Unscrupulous
by Susan Hilton
Summary: Just for his own amusement, the Q transports Captain Christopher back to Kirk's Enterprise along with Rasmussen and encourages them to swipe a few items from a less observant original series crew, thus permanently altering history. PLEASE, I beg of you, leave a review.
1. Chapter 1

Unscrupulous

Chapter One

"Suppose an unscrupulous man were to gain certain knowledge of man's future. Such a man could manipulate key industries, stocks or even nations, and, in so doing, change what must be..." -Spock

Author note: Since nobody has physically gone to Saturn yet, in this story, Spock will be wrong about Captain Christopher's son going there. In this story, it will be his grandson who goes there.

The year was 2050. The son of Colonel Sean Jeffrey Christopher had inherited his grandfather's property, including a mysterious sealed trunk. His father, who had been killed in a traffic accident, had never revealed to him what was inside the strange box. He only told him that it was something unique and not of this world, and gave him instructions on a piece of paper on how to open it before he died. The instructions were now handed to the colonel's son, who was also an astronaut like his father, by their family lawyer during the playing of his last will and testament. Now, the box was in the possession of Sean Christopher Junior. Not very curious about its contents, he had the trunk stored away in the attic of the house he had inherited. It was a large house; almost a mansion, for his father the colonel had been rather wealthy. He had acquired his wealth by getting lucky at the stock market, investing in computer technology and high tech and amazing gadgets, that were now in wide use in many fields.

Sean Jr. turned the key inside the ancient keyhole to his inherited house, thinking to himself how lame this old technology was. In the house where he had lived before this one, one gained entry by touching a hand on a sensor pad. It was one of many inventions that his grandfather had dreamed up. Sean quietly opened the door and stepped into the old house. The dark wooden floors creaked as he walked on them, but he wasn't worried. The old house was very well maintained, and there was no danger of falling through the floor boards or anything like that. As he made his way into the spacious foyer, the television switched itself on in the living room, and Sean heard the voice of his deceased father. He was startled at first, but then realized it was just a recording, probably set to go off when he stepped inside his acquired property. As he made his way into the living room, he stepped over to the TV to shut it off. As he did so, he was stopped in his tracks and knocked on his butt by a force field, another one of his grandfather's creations. Sighing but unhurt, he got up and plopped down onto the luxurious leather sofa, which was covered by a dusty off-white sheet. Just for fun, he punched it with his hands and watched the dust fly into sun beams streaming through the living room French door faded blue curtains. His father's voice droned on until Sean heard an unusual inquiry from his dead father on the television screen.

"I trust you are having fun playing with the dust, son." Sean's eyes widened. The image of his father smiled at him, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "Don't be shocked. I know you very well...or, I must say I knew you very well. Now that I probably have your attention, listen carefully. If you bring the trunk down from the attic and open it, its contents will make you as wealthy as they made me. The items inside come from the distant future, but you must not tell anyone that. In my will, I also had Cedric my butler leave before you finally got around to entering your new house. He knows nothing about the box or its contents, and he doesn't need to know. What's inside is yours to do with what you want, but you must keep everything you find in it a secret. That is very important, son. In the near future, if someone comes knocking on the door claiming to be the actual owners of the property in the box, tell them you don't know what they are talking about and get rid of them in any way you can. Oh, and by the way, good luck on your mission to Saturn. Take care, Sean. I love you." With that, the screen went black. Sean sat there for a few moments, awed by the fact that his dad also knew that he did not possess the curiosity they had and had stored the box in the attic. Finally, shrugging it off as coincidence, he stood and walked to the stairs that led to the second story of the house. He climbed them slowly, knowing that there was also a stipulation in the recorded will that said that only as soon as he opened the trunk, the property would be officially his.

The attic was dustier than he had expected, and as he opened the door, he sneezed. As his eyes grew adjusted to the decreased light, he found the box, took out the instructions from his pocket, and opened it. What he saw surprised him, and he began to wonder if his dad and grandfather had had a few screws loose. Inside was a neatly folded gold and black replica of a Starfleet uniform and props from the original science fiction show he had heard about all his life but never watched. There was a phaser, a communicator, a tricorder and some kind of scanning device that resembled a salt shaker. There was also a computer printout of all the gadgets that would be invented in the next two centuries, and their blueprints. As he saw these, he began to wonder if the devices in the box were really props at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Unscrupulous, chapter two

The Q was bored. One day, he decided to alleviate some of his boredom by creating a black hole near the lonely outpost of Star Base Nine while visiting the twenty-third century. He knew that Kirk would soon encounter it and that he and his ship would be propelled backwards in time to the twentieth century. Kirk was always fun for the Q to mess with, and he knew that the captain would be labeled a menace by Starfleet Temporal, even though the Q was the main culprit for Kirk's many time travel mishaps. The Q also decided to have some fun with Captain Christopher, the local primitive Kirk had to beam aboard the Enterprise when the ship's tractor beam crushed his airplane. He knew how disappointed the airman had been when he found out from Kirk that he would not remember anything about being aboard the starship Enterprise. The Q rather liked Christopher's personality and he decided to pose as his long time friend, Commander Webb, after the real Webb had detected the ship as a blip on his radar when it appeared over the Omaha installation. The real Webb had moved on to bigger and better things, through the following years forgetting about the day he detected a mysterious blip on his radar scope. He had long ago dismissed it as a glitch in the machine's programming. However, Captain Christopher, who was now a Colonel and just a few weeks away from retirement from the US Air Force, never forgot about the strange UFO he saw in the sky, nor could he forget the fact that the Air Force considered it worthy of investigation. As the years progressed, the Q, posing as Webb, contacted Christopher by phone, telling him that the UFO he had seen over Omaha was really the starship Enterprise. At first, Christopher thought his old friend had lost his marbles, knowing full well like everyone else that the starship Enterprise was from a long dead science fiction TV show. However, when he started to think about it, the UFO he had seen had borne a striking resemblance to the fictional space ship. The media had gotten wind of this and had contacted him about an interview for "Unsolved Mysteries". Christopher found it a bit silly, but, in recent years, people were becoming more and more tolerant of supposed UFO sightings and it was becoming more acceptable to report any such strange occurrences. So, at last he relented, thinking it would be just something amusing for the public to enjoy. However, a few days after the first interview with the media, two men dressed in black came knocking on his door, ordering him to cease and desist talking about the event that occurred in the late nineteen sixties, telling him that there would be dire consequences if he did not comply. Christopher found them to be a bit strange and menacing, but he was not about to follow the orders of complete strangers. After all, he had the Constitutional right of free speech and was not about to be intimidated by a couple of weirdos in dark suits and sunglasses. Months after he told the story, though, he was summarily dismissed from the Air Force with no explanation and was denied his retirement pension. Despondent, he decided to kill himself. His wife tried to console him, telling him that it must be some kind of horrible bureaucratic mistake, but deep down he knew that it was he who made the mistake and should have heeded the men in black. The last thing he remembered before waking up on Kirk's ship was downing several sleeping pills.

The Q had considered that bringing Picard's ship back in time, as much as he enjoyed his great speeches, would have created too many variables in the time line. There were many more people on the Enterprise-D, and that would create an even bigger problem. The radar devices in the twentieth century would have had no problem picking up the much larger ship as it lumbered through the sky. As he thought of Picard, the Q smiled as he also thought of Burlingoff Rasmussen. The Q had been the one posing as the time craft's occupant, whom Rasmussen thought he had killed. Of course, the Q wanted him to steal the craft, just so he could have some more fun watching the dismally unsuccessful twenty-second century inventor as he masqueraded as a history professor and tried to palm some items from Picard's ship, only to be caught by Data. _"That darned android!"_ The Q thought. _"Always such a kill joy. However...he did save my life once." _The Q paused for a moment, and then decided to give Rasmussen another chance.

Burlingoff Rasmussen had just been released from jail, and had been exiled on Nimbus Three, the "planet of galactic peace". As he sat in a booth inside a local eatery, something familiar caught his eye. At first, he thought he was seeing things. He shook his head, closed his eyes and took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. When he looked again, the ship he thought had vanished forever on Picard's ship was still there, resting quietly in the parking lot. Looking around furtively, hoping that nobody else was noticing, he made his way out of the restaurant and approached the time ship. Cautiously, he touched it, feeling the warmth of the outer hull. It was real all right. He walked to the entrance and touched the door panel. As he climbed in, he saw the alien he thought he had killed at the controls.

"Good evening, Rasmussen." Q said with a smile. "Don't worry. I'm not mad at you for trying to kill me. I have a proposition for you. I will return you to the twenty-second century where you belong if you do me a favor and rescue a certain twenty-first century senior citizen from a starship in the twenty-third century and bring him back to his own time. When you are there, you will have the opportunity to pilfer some items from good old NCC 1701."

Captain James T Kirk had just completed a diplomatic mission to the Gorn home world, where he had successfully presented a peace treaty with the lizard-like creatures that had attacked Cestus Three. It was early in the morning when he stepped out of his quarters on deck five and nearly tripped over the supine form of a much older version of John Christopher. The man was dressed in pajamas and appeared to be asleep and oblivious to everything. Concerned and puzzled as to how the former airman could possibly be on his ship again, he felt for a pulse. Not finding one, he immediately called McCoy on the nearest wall intercom.


	3. Chapter 3

Unscrupulous

Chapter Three

James T. Kirk watched with intense curiosity and puzzlement as his chief medical officer worked on their unexpected guest. The captain never thought he would ever see John Christopher again and his mind was full of unanswered questions: How did he get on the ship? The Enterprise was nowhere near Earth or Star Base Nine, and the black hole that nearly destroyed their ship in the past year had mysteriously and inexplicably disappeared. Why was the twentieth century airman here and how did he come into this time frame? Why was he in pajamas and why was he unconscious? Kirk knew that McCoy could possibly answer the last question.

First Officer Spock had been summoned from the bridge soon after the discovery and after the much older version of John Christopher had been whisked to sickbay. Upon entering the room, the Vulcan raised an eyebrow as he contained his own astonishment when he recognized the new arrival. Even though Christopher appeared to be at least forty years older than he was at their first encounter, he was still recognizable.

"What is his condition, Doctor?"

"He's out of danger. I managed to purge his system of most of the sedatives he ingested." McCoy answered, looking as puzzled as the captain. "It was close, though. He almost died."

"Sedatives?" James Kirk asked with concern. He rather liked Christopher when he was first aboard their ship and couldn't imagine him trying to do himself in.

McCoy nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, Jim. There is every indication that Mr. Christopher tried to kill himself. He ingested a large amount of doxylamine succinate, a powerful antihistamine. It was also a common sleep aid in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century."

"Why would he do that?" Kirk asked impulsively.

"How should I know?" McCoy responded gruffly, then composed himself. "You can ask him when he wakes up in about six hours."

"Bones...could he have remembered what Spock said about him not making any relative contributions and got depressed about that?"

"That is unlikely, Captain." Spock said. "Although depression is a possible motive for attempted suicide, all his knowledge of our existence was erased when we used the slingshot effect to turn back time and used the transporter. He probably does not remember us at all. Something else must have triggered his suicide attempt."

Nurse Chapel had quietly entered the room as they were speaking. She peered at their new patient with interest and also with a certain amount of curiosity.

"I know why he tried to kill himself." She interrupted softly, still staring at their new arrival.

The two men looked at her with surprise.

"How would you know, Miss Chapel? This man is from the twentieth century." Kirk asked, watching as McCoy waved a small medical scanner again over the new patient.

"It's in our family history. He was my great, great great grandfather. He lost his job when he told the media that he saw a UFO. Soon after that, he vanished for a couple of days." She smiled a little. "The mystery of where he went has finally been solved." She shook her head in amazement. Time travel was still such a new thing they were dealing with, and she found it incredible that she was actually going to get to talk with one of her ancestors.

"Fascinating." Spock responded, looking into her deep blue eyes. She certainly could have some of Christopher's DNA. "Doctor, can you verify that? Do you mind, Nurse Chapel?"

"Not at all, sir." She answered with another little smile. McCoy smiled back, adjusted the scanner for DNA readings and waved it over John Christopher and then at the head nurse.

"Confirmed." He said with astonishment. "Even after several generations, Miss Chapel has some of John's DNA. However, there are several mysteries yet to be solved, such as why he would be here and how he got here."

"Mr. Spock, I also must tell you that you were inaccurate about his son going to Saturn. The early twenty-first century had not yet developed that kind of technology. It was his grandson, Sean junior who went."

McCoy grinned.

"Wow, another historic occasion!"

"I stand corrected, Nurse." Spock responded with a sigh. "Now the question of why he is here and how he got here must be answered."

"Agreed, Mr. Spock." Kirk nodded in agreement, following Chapel's gaze.

The Q vanished from sight, but not until he gave Rasmussen some instructions on who he was going to rescue from the original starship Enterprise. Christopher had long been Burlinghoff's childhood hero, even though most people he knew thought he had made a fool of himself on national television in the early part of the twenty-first century. He found it incredible that he was actually going to meet the man, and while everyone else thought Christopher was nuts for believing that he saw the Enterprise in the sky, Rasmussen secretly believed him. Soon after the Q being vanished, the ship took off, and Rasmussen found himself right in front of the Enterprise. He had never completely mastered the intricacies of the time travel controls, so he had no hope of setting them to his own time so he could get home and leave Christopher where he was. He really didn't want to do what the alien had asked him to do. He wanted to go home. He sighed and then thought this might be fun, considering this time frame was still over a hundred years past his era. He frowned as the sensors on his time ship indicated to him that the starship's shields were immediately raised. Apparently, his appearance startled them. He then considered that the raising of the shields might be standard procedure, being he appeared from out of nowhere and they didn't know whether he was friend or foe. Rasmussen thought that they were both lucky that the Enterprise was not traveling at warp speed, but was at impulse, obviously in no particular hurry to go anywhere. He was given instructions by the Q that he should pose as a time traveling historian like before when he was aboard Picard's Enterprise and that he should tell Kirk's crew that he was there to pick up Christopher and bring him back to his own time. This was no big stretch for Rasmussen, for while he was incarcerated, he had honed his skills at lying and thievery.


	4. Chapter 4

Unscrupulous

Chapter Four

The Enterprise was on yellow alert because of the sudden appearance of the mysterious alien craft. Kirk, still in sickbay and mystified by the appearance of a much older version of John Christopher, strode to the nearest wall intercom as the klaxon sounded. Spock had left Lt. DeSalle in charge of the bridge. He considered him a logical choice, for he was a natural leader and a capable helmsman, who seemed used to dealing with the unknown.

"Bridge, this is the captain. What's with the yellow alert?"

"DeSalle here, sir. We have encountered some kind of alien ship. It's not answering to Uhura's hails."

"I will be right there. Take no provocative actions and have Uhura keep trying to hail them in all known languages and frequencies."

"Aye, sir." DeSalle tried to keep from sounding nervous. He was not as confident as the first officer thought he was, but knew how to keep a calm exterior in tense situations. This sudden appearance rattled him, but he did not let it show. Also, considering that whoever or whatever was aboard that alien ship could he hostile, he wasn't the only person on the bridge who was nervous. Bailey at navigation was trying valiantly to not show that he was scared. He was still a little embarrassed by the way he had acted the last time they encountered an unknown alien craft, the lone occupant using a gruesome- looking puppet and empty threats to find out more about them.*

Kirk switched the com channel to security.

"Security, this is the captain. I want a guard posted in sickbay immediately to protect Mr. Christopher from a possible alien threat. Also, post a couple of guards to the bridge."

"Security chief Humbolt, here, sir. Johnson and Garrovick are on their way to the bridge. I will post Lt. Joseph to sickbay."

"Very good. Kirk out."

DeSalle was inwardly glad that Captain Kirk would soon be on the bridge. First contact situations always made him anxious. He glanced at Bailey.

"Bailey, have you tried to scan the interior of that craft?"

"Yes, sir. Sensors won't penetrate the hull. The ship is made of something that deflects communication signals."

"Sir!" Uhura interrupted excitedly. "They are finally answering our hails! In English!"

"Put them on screen." DeSalle ordered as Kirk entered the bridge. Garrovick and Johnson trailed behind him. They took a stance of readiness at the bridge doors. They all watched in astonishment as the face of a human being appeared on the main viewing screen. DeSalle kept his eyes on the image as he relinquished the captain's chair to Kirk. Bailey breathed a little sigh of relief as Sulu looked at him with amusement. The image of a middle-aged balding man appeared on the main viewing screen.

"Hello, Captain Kirk." The occupant of the alien craft greeted with a smile. "I didn't mean to startle all of you, but I am with Starfleet Temporal. They are testing this new ship technology, which was given to us by an advanced culture from the twenty-ninth century. Is Mr. Christopher all right? We have been quite concerned about him."

Kirk sighed. He had dealt with Starfleet Temporal before. He didn't like the way they made such a big deal out of all his time travel excursions.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Burlingoff Rasmusson, sir." The occupant of the time ship answered smoothly. "Mr. Christopher was about to be abducted from his bed in the twenty-first century by a bunch of Greys. They were about to dissect him, but we caught them and transported him to your ship before they could harm him. We figured he would be transported to one of our secret bases on twentieth century Earth, but something went awry with our time transporter. I am here to take him back home. May I come aboard?" Rasmussen was inwardly quite proud of his made-up story and he could see the people on the Enterprise bought it.

"Yes, of course. Stand by." Kirk flipped the switch to the transporter room. "Transporter room, lock onto the alien ship's occupant and beam him aboard."

"Sir, this is Kyle. We are unable to lock onto his coordinates. Something is interfering with the signal."

"I heard that." Rasmussen interrupted softly. "I have a transporter device of my own. I will beam directly to your bridge."

"Never mind, Kyle." Kirk said, watching with astonishment as the man who called himself Rasmussen materialized right in front of him. The two security guards at the bridge entrance tensed up and took their phasers out of their holsters and set them on stun.

Rasmussen smiled, noticing them. "I am unarmed and not here to hurt anybody, sir. I am just here to rescue Mr. Christopher. As you know, he doesn't belong here. Where is he?"

"He's in sickbay, recovering from a suicide attempt, Mr. Rasmussen."

"Oh, yes, of course. It is a pity that he would try to take his own life. We at Starfleet Temporal have been trying to figure out why he did that for years. I am an historian, sir. I am one of many who are employed by Starfleet Temporal. My specialty is the late twentieth century and early twenty-first."

Spock had just stepped onto the bridge and he raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. That is interesting, considering that the reason was obvious. Whoever was in charge of Earth's men in black had him fired from his job after he exercised his right of free speech by telling the media about his supposed encounter with a UFO."

Rasmussen thought quickly.

"We at Starfleet Temporal believe there was another reason why Christopher tried to off himself. May I see him?"

"After he recovers, sir. Sir..." Kirk added, becoming a little concerned that the man who called himself Rasmussen had been the lone occupant of the time ship, if that is what it was. "I'm curious. How are you going to get back to your ship once you have completed your rescue mission here?"

"My ship's computer has a fail-safe device built into it which will beam me and Christopher back with my orders."

"I wish we had something like that on this ship. It would have come in handy on Omicron Ceti Three.** Spock, bring Nurse Chapel up here with a medical tricorder. I want to see if this gentleman is human." Kirk paused, looking at the new arrival curiously. "I hope you don't mind., sir, but it's not every day that a stranger just beams onto our bridge."

"Oh, no, not at all, Captain. However, I can assure you that I am quite human."

"I'm glad you don't mind if we verify that." Kirk responded, watching as McCoy's head nurse entered the bridge. As she did, Rasmussen smiled again. To him, she was very beautiful. He watched her as she scanned him.

"He's human, sir."

"Thank you, Miss Chapel. Will you do the honors and escort our new arrival to guest quarters? Garrovick, accompany them. Make sure that our new arrival behaves himself."

*"The Corbomite Maneuver"

** "This Side of Paradise"


	5. Chapter 5

Unscrupulous

Chapter 5

Christine Chapel monitored her ancestor's condition, now thankful that he was going to recover and also for the diversion. She embarrassed herself a couple of weeks ago when she found out that the man she was in love with was already married. She had never completely understood Vulcan mating customs. It was revealed to her, along with everyone else that Spock was now divorced, but she knew also that in another seven years, he would be forced by biology and tradition to take another mate. In her heart of hearts, she knew it would probably not be her. When she was under the influence of a malady that caused everyone to lose their inhibitions and she revealed her true feelings to Spock, she later felt that she had lost some of her self respect.* If she had known that he was already taken, she would have not revealed her true feelings for him, even under the influence of the disease that nearly everyone on board had. Even though she was embarrassed enough to want to leave the ship, her tour of duty on the Enterprise would not be over for another two years. She would have to live the incident down during that time. Nobody had said a word to her, but that still didn't negate her feelings of utter abashment. She also felt that Spock was attempting to distance himself from her. She couldn't blame him. Even though he did not show it, she knew he must have been embarrassed as well. He seemed more stoic than usual, but he too seemed relieved by this new development. He and the captain had parted for the bridge, Kirk ordering McCoy to inform him of when Christopher regained consciousness. Chapel also knew that Uhura was developing feelings for the Vulcan first officer, after he had complimented her on her expertise with the ship's communication systems.** Christine looked down at their new patient, fascinated by the idea of meeting someone that was a part of her family, albeit two hundred years into the past. Everyone still wondered how he got here, and the new arrival named Rasmussen didn't seem willing to tell them much. He claimed to be an historian, but it appeared that his credentials were lacking. They had docked his time ship in the shuttle bay. It fit neatly between the Galileo II and the Copernicus. Rasmussen, in a successful effort to prove to them that he was who he said he was, had powered it's timing mechanisms down so it wouldn't disappear again. As the nurse busied herself with their new patient, she heard the footfalls of Dr. McCoy in the entry way of the recovery room, catching a whiff of a replicated after shave cologne as he stepped closer to them. She knew he had worn it so Christopher would feel more at home once he was conscious.

"Christine, we need to talk."

"What about, Doctor?" She took another whiff of the cologne. "Aqua Velva?"

"No, actually, it's Hai Karate. Aside from that, I think you know what we need to talk about. I don't think you should tell John that you are related to him."

"Why not? What would be the harm?"

"He will be freaked out enough when he wakes up. It's not every day that someone like him is mysteriously whisked away from their home and transported into the distant future."

"I see your point, but he's basically a stranger in a strange land. He's going to need someone familiar to help him adjust to what's happened."

McCoy grinned.

"Do you still grok Spock?"

Her face grew red from the reference to Heinlein's novel.

"That's not very funny, sir. My feelings for Mr. Spock are my business. John needs to come to grips with what has happened to him, that's all."

"Sorry, Chris. However, I think we should leave that up to Counselor Noel. Psychology is not your forte."

"Oh, isn't it?" She retorted a little sharper than she intended. "I think I can show that I can apply it."

"As I recall, your application of psychology pissed Garrovick off and he was almost killed by that cloud monster."***

"Your point, Doctor McCoy?"

"We don't know what his reaction would be if he found out-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a low groan from their patient. As they watched, he opened his eyes, slowly sat up with assistance from Chapel, and stared at them quizzically.

"If I found out what?" Christopher asked grouchily, wiping the sleep out of his eyes with his hand. "Is this some kind of a joke? What is this place and who are you people? Am I in hell?"

"It's no joke, Mr. Christopher." McCoy answered with a gentle smile. "Welcome back to the Enterprise. I'm Dr. Leonard McCoy and this is Nurse Christine Chapel. No, you are not in hell. You are perfectly safe from fire and brimstone."

"I've been here before? Oh, shit. Karma's a bitch. I guess this is what I get for trying to kill myself. What the hell am I doing here and how did I get here?"

"We were hoping you could tell us. Excuse me. I have to tell the captain that you are finally awake."

Christopher looked at Nurse Chapel curiously as McCoy headed for the nearest wall intercom.

"Is he for real?"

"Yes, sir. He is. If you don't mind my asking, what prompted you to want to take your own life?"

He smiled at her, now considering that he was in the hands of the same ones who warned him not to reveal to the public that he saw the Enterprise in the sky right before Apollo 11 went to the moon.

"I see what this is about. You people destroyed my life and now you are interrogating me. If you must know, it was not for selfish reasons. Both my wife and I are senior citizens and my kids are now grown. I couldn't expect them to support me when the money ran out. I felt I had no choice but to end it all."

"You didn't want to be a burden to our—I mean your family."

"That's correct, beautiful. I didn't." If he had noticed her slip-up, he didn't show it. "Am I still in the twenty-first century?"

"No, sir. You are in the twenty-third. However, there is a gentleman here who claims that he can bring you back home...if that is what you want."

"Back home to what, young lady? I have no life back there, thanks to you people."

"Why are you blaming us? We are just as surprised at seeing you as you are of us. You should be blaming the Men in Black. They are the ones who got you fired, not us."

"That's true, I suppose. But, when I first saw your ship in the sky in the sixties, I felt it was my duty to report what I saw. This ship is the reason I got canned." Christopher's expression softened a little. "However, you are right. So all that was revealed in that old Star Trek episode was true. I might as well try and make a new life for myself in the here and now."

"Won't you miss your family?"

"Of course I will, Miss Chapel. However. a lot has changed since my last encounter with you people. I now see that this is a better era than the one I left. It will take time, but I will adjust."

*"The Naked Time"

** "Who Mourns for Adonis?"

*** "Obsession"


	6. Chapter 6

Unscrupulous

Chapter Six

Rasmussen was a bit frustrated that he wasn't granted immediate access to Christopher, even after his repeated assurances that he meant him no harm. He was still at a loss as to how to proceed in his secret desire to steal some objects to take home with him, once Christopher had recovered. It wasn't going to be as easy as he was led to believe. After several minutes of pacing like a caged tiger in his guest quarters, he decided to use the Enterprise computer to find out more about Kirk and his crew. Two security guards had been posted outside his door, the captain still uneasy about his arrival. Rasmussen could hardly blame him, after Kirk explained that they all had a recent bad experience when a seemingly harmless man, frozen and revived from the twentieth century, turned out to be exactly the opposite.* Even though Rasmussen didn't appear to be very muscular, or mentally unbalanced, Kirk wasn't taking any chances. He told him to wait here in his guest quarters until Christopher was recovered and then he would be escorted to sickbay by the security men outside. As he approached the computer terminal tri-screen, the Q suddenly appeared directly in his path.

"Oh, hi Q. What are you doing here?"

"I came to help you in your quest to pilfer some items from Kirk's ship. Your ticket off this tub is Mr. Christopher. You two should get your heads together and steal the items together and share the profits of your ill-gotten gains once you return home. He is at this very moment plotting revenge against the leader of the so-called Men in Black, coming up with the same idea that has been in your little warped mind all this time."

"How do you know what has been on my mind?" Rasmussen asked, startled.

"You are easy to figure out, Rasmussen. You think like a Ferengi. Besides, we Qs can see right through people like you. Oh, don't worry. I don't hold grudges. I like you, Rasmussen, even though you tried to kill me and took the time ship on a joy ride to Picard's era. The truth is, I wanted you to do it. The problem with immortality is that it's boring. I rather enjoyed watching you trying to trick the crew of the Enterprise-D. I brought you to this era because stealing from Kirk will be a little bit easier."

"Spock is suspicious of me."

"As well he should be. However, you have a way of making people feel at ease. Turn on the charm. It will work with him. He's half human, you know."

"Are there Betazoids on this ship?"

"No, the rest of this motley little crew are human. You won't have any problems, as long as you try and avoid Spock. He's the most observant of the crew."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a transporter and a young man appeared behind Rasmussen in a cloud of blue smoke. The Q sighed in obvious exasperation as Rasmussen turned to see who it was who had just transported into his guest quarters. It was a good looking young man dressed in a twenty-third century yellow and black Starfleet uniform, and the Q noticed he had a servo in his hand. He had dark hair and spoke with a thick Russian accent.

"Hello, Q. I was told you were here and were up to no good."

"Speaking of problems! Chekov, you know very well that your captain isn't due to know about your secret assignment on twentieth century Earth for at least a year." The Q greeted contemptuously.

"You know this man, Q?" Rasmussen asked in astonishment.

"I think that's fairly obvious, Burl. Why have you beamed here, Chekov?"

"I have come to make sure you aren't up to your usual mischief, Q. Also, Supervisor 194 has asked me to come and bring Christopher back to his own time."

"No need, Mr...uh...Chekov. I have a time ship." Rasmussen said, staring at the young man in astonishment.

"It does not belong to either of you. It is my invention. Mr. Seven and I built it just in case his apartment transporter ever malfunctioned. The Q made off with it before we added the finishing touches. I have come to retrieve it and to take Mr. Christopher home."

"How are you going to do that without revealing what you do when you are off the Enterprise, Pavel?" The Q asked with an overconfident smirk. "Kirk isn't due to know about Seven for at least another year."

"Who is Mr. Seven?" Rasmussen asked, intrigued.

"Pavel's other employer, who often interferes with history. He's an intergalactic secret agent, sent to Earth to prevent mankind from destroying themselves before they finally develop into a peaceful culture."** The Q answered boldly.

"That is a lie! It is you who screws with the fabric of space and time!" The young man shouted in anger.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist and keep your voice down. You don't want security to discover you here. Lucky for you, I am here to make sure they don't. However, you are right."

"Why did you bring Christopher two hundred years into the future?"

"Just for fun, and I also have taken a liking to that pretty young nurse who is his descendant in sickbay. I want to do something nice for her."

"Nurse Chapel is related to Christopher?!" Chekov asked, his turn to be astonished.

"Yes, Pavel. She is his great great great granddaughter." Q answered, counting off the greats with his fingers in the air.

"I have a question, Q. I just heard from Supervisor 194 that Christopher doesn't want to go back to where he came from. How are you going to convince him to return?"

"Once he finds out that Blondie is his descendant, it will give him a reason to return home. Rasmussen can also convince him to go back in time by telling him about Mr. Seven. He's the one who spread the false rumor that NASA fired Mr. Christopher because of his supposed UFO sighting. I can easily transport him to Seven's apartment to get it all straightened out."

"Sounds like a brilliant plan, Mr. Q, but can you pull it off?" Rasmussen asked, astounded.

"Don't worry about a thing. Let Christopher and Rasmussen stay here on the Enterprise for a while, Chekov, until we can convince John to return home to where he belongs."

"Very well..." Chekov answered a little doubtfully, re-holstering his servo weapon. "I will go back and tell Seven that the situation is well in hand. Good day, gentlemen." With that, he pressed a device on his wrist and dissolved in the blue transporter smoke. Unknown to them, he transported himself onto the time ship and left with it.

*"Space Seed"

** "Assignment: Earth"


	7. Chapter 7

Unscrupulous

Chapter 7

The time pod materialized inside a darkened and enclosed Area 51 hangar in the year 1969. It was used exclusively by the era's Men in Black. Chekov checked his readouts carefully to make sure he was in the right time period and on Earth before he stepped out into the pitch black recesses of the building. The smell of spent rocket fuel and dust assailed his olfactory nerves and he coughed. 'It's twentieth century Earth, all right.' he whispered softly. Switching on a flashlight he made his way to a hidden trap door in the floor. As he descended down a metal ladder, he approached a transporter booth fashioned to look like an ordinary old fashioned enclosed phone booth. He smiled as he got to it, reminded of a comedic television show from this era which used a phone booth like this one for fictional secret agents Maxwell Smart and Agent 99. However, as amusing as it was to think of that show, he became concerned that Mr. Spock was becoming more suspicious of his activities while away from the Enterprise. He knew that it would be just a matter of time before they discovered his little secret. Pavel was glad that the Men In Black had taken such elaborate measures to keep the general population in this era from discovering Seven's advanced technology on twentieth century Earth. The fact that he was a Russian and his people were considered evil enemies of the United States did not escape his thoughts either. If any civilian of this time period were to discover this MIB base, it could cause great harm to the time line. A primitive from this era may come to the erroneous conclusion that he was working for the KGB or some such nonsense. The MIB chose this particular location carefully and wisely. Since no civilian was allowed access to Area 51, MIB agents such as himself could come and go as they pleased, virtually unobserved or apprehended. As he pressed the secret controls in the booth, he soon materialized inside the chamber made to resemble a large walk-in safe. As the brown vault door opened, Seven greeted him with a scowl.

"Welcome back to the twentieth century, Ensign." Seven said without inflection, his facial expression stern. "Where is Christopher and have you secured the time pod?"

"The time pod is secure in Area 51. As for Mr. Christopher, I arrived too early. He was still recovering from a suicide attempt in sickbay. I felt it was imperative to bring the time pod back into our possession so it would be harder for Rasmussen to mess with history."

"You forgot about the Q being, Pavel." Seven responded, his expression softening. "They have the power to travel through time easily. Also, you didn't have to take a servo with you. It would have been ineffective against the Q. However, I believe he's up to something. Do you have any idea what that might be?"

"No, not really, but he seemed very sincere when he said he wanted to help Mr. Christopher get back home. I was more concerned by the unknown element of that Rasmussen guy. We know little about him, except that he is a sneaky, shady kulak. The Q was probably very amused at the sight of the servo as well, which kind of works in our favor. That one is very unlike Roberta's friend and I don't want to get him angry. Also, Christopher doesn't want to go back to the twenty-first century yet. He is not ready. Also, as you know, it would have been against the temporal Prime Directive to force him to come back with me."

"I see. You did the right thing. However, you don't have a lot of time left on your three day pass on Wrigley's pleasure planet. You should return to your era soon. A shuttle craft is waiting for you on that planet when you return. It would arouse further suspicion on Spock's part if you just suddenly appeared on the Enterprise seemingly from out of nowhere. You must make a normal approach."

"I am aware of that, sir. How is Miss Lincoln's training coming along, by the way?"

"Just fine, Pavel. I will tell her that you asked about her. She is presently getting a new arrival from the planet Bajor settled in our century. She will be living with Miss Lincoln as she adjusts to twentieth century Earth."

"A Bajoran is on planet Earth?" Pavel asked, a bit startled. "I hope she is in disguise."

"Yes, she has had the necessary cosmetic adjustments to her facial features, and she will not be making the adjustment to life on Earth alone. Her mother is also here and will be living with me until she can find gainful employment."

"May I ask why they are here?"

"All I can tell you is that they are refugees, fleeing the violence and barbarism of the Cardassians. They will be safe here in the United States of America in this time period."

"But, sir...isn't it a bit risky to bring extraterrestrials to this era? What if one of them gets sick or injured? There is a danger that the primitive doctors of this era will overreact and contact the authorities. They could end up on a slab in an alien autopsy video."

"There is little chance of that, Pavel. If they get sick or injured, a Starfleet doctor will be dispatched by the MIB. Even though they will be safe here in this era, they will have to be briefed by the hazards involved with posing as humans. Don't worry about that. They will be all right."

"Very well. I should be getting back to the Enterprise."

"Good bye for now and try not to blow your cover as a mild-mannered Starfleet starship navigator."

Pavel smiled.

"It will be difficult, but I will try, sir."

As Rasmussen was being escorted by Captain Kirk and Spock to the briefing room to talk with a newly released Christopher, a yellow alert klaxon sounded while they were still in the corridor. They all paused as Kirk went to the nearest wall intercom.

"Security, this is the captain. What's going on?"

"Humboldt here, sir. The time pod just vanished."

"Captain Kirk," Rasmussen interrupted. "There are two possibilities as to why this happened. The first is that I did not successfully power it down so it would stay here."

"And the second?" Kirk asked, ordering the security officer to shut off the alarm. Scotty had probably ordered the yellow alert.

"That little Russkie took it. The one I told you about who appeared in my guest quarters. I was so startled by his appearance that I don't recall his name." The Q had vanished before the yellow alert went off, saying in a perfect Arnold Swartenegger impression that he would be back.

"Interesting," Spock said. "Describe him."

"A little short dark-haired young man, dressed in a Starfleet uniform like the captain's."

"That sounds like our head navigator, Pavel Chekov. Of course, we know that is impossible."

"Is it, Captain?" Spock asked. "The fact is that we do not know where he goes or what he does when he is on his 'special assignments' or on shore leave."

"A point well taken, Spock. I will have to have a talk with him once he returns to the ship."


	8. Chapter 8

Unscrupulous

Chapter 8

When Chekov docked the shuttle craft in the Enterprise shuttle bay, he tensed up a little when the captain ordered him to the briefing room. It was not that it was unexpected, but he still could not come up with a plausible explanation of his appearance in Rasmussen's quarters. He had thought of claiming that it was his counterpart brother from the alternate universe, but doubted that either Kirk or Spock would buy it. Why would Piotr care what happens in this universe? He had his own problems with the Bajorans gunning for him and people always wanting to assassinate him and take his place on the ISS Enterprise as Captain. No, Pavel had to be honest, even though he was concerned that Kirk would learn too much about the future and about his clandestine activities while not aboard the Enterprise. He was also worried about Kirk learning the code name of Supervisor 194, which the Q had blurted out, much to his chagrin. Kirk was not due to know about him yet, and foreknowledge of Gary Seven or the Q might cause problems in the time line. It was true, however, that the Enterprise crew had already encountered a Q who called himself Trelane. Trelane was a small impudent child disguised as an adult. Immature Qs like him were mere annoyances, but the one who appeared in Rasmussen's quarters was no child. There was something very scary about him. Chekov still was having a difficult time believing that Nurse Chapel was Christopher's descendant. It intrigued him, however, so he decided to be the one who would tell Christopher about the head nurse of the Enterprise being a relative of his. Knowledge of this just might be the incentive to get John to reconsider his decision to stay in the twenty-third century. If he were to stay, then Christine might cease to exist. Being rather fond of her, Chekov did not want that to happen. Also, Chekov knew just by looking at Rasmussen that his heart wasn't really into the idea of returning Christopher back to his own century, and now that the time pod was in a secure location in area 51 in the twentieth century, the mission that Rasmussen was assigned by the Q would be next to impossible for him to carry out. Chekov realized that he was Rasmussen's and Christopher's only hope of ever returning to their own time periods, unless the Q intervened. There was also something very shady about Rasmussen, although Pavel couldn't figure out what that was. There was something very unsavory about the man, so he decided to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't cause any trouble. Chekov also knew that it would take some convincing on his part to get Christopher to return to the twenty-first century. He had his work cut out for him.

Unknown to Chekov, during the time it had taken for him to return from Wrigley's pleasure planet in the shuttle, the two men from the past had already developed a rudimentary friendship. Rasmussen and Christopher had been given a brief tour of the ship, during which Rasmussen had already palmed one of McCoy's medical scanners and had also pocketed a hand phaser while touring the armory. A crewman named Leslie was doing routine maintenance on the ship's arsenal, making sure all the weapons were in good working order. The crewman didn't notice Rasmussen taking the phaser, but Christopher did. He then smiled, now coming up with the same idea Rasmussen did on the Enterprise-D. He would also steal a few items, return to his own time, and "invent" one a year. In so doing, he would probably become a very rich man, and it would be sweet revenge against NASA for firing him. The first item he took was a tricorder. Someone had been careless and had left the device in Christopher's closet in his guest quarters. He wasn't sure that he should tell Kirk about his discovery, but now thought better of it. While he was changing into a Starfleet uniform, he found the device in his closet. He then decided to ask Kirk for a duffel bag so he could store his pajamas and some personal items he had been given while recovering in sickbay. He had been given a cordless shaver that looked remarkably like the hand phaser he observed Rasmussen palm. While he wasn't looking, he picked his pocket and exchanged the shaver for the phaser. He also considered that if he returned to the twenty-first century, he would gun down those responsible for his unjust dismissal. Christopher had also been given some civilian clothing, for he couldn't very well appear on twenty-first century Earth in a Starfleet uniform. Someone might think he was an escapee from a loony bin or an obsessed Trekkie. By the time Chekov had stepped into the briefing room, both men had already decided to go back to their own time periods. Unknown to Rasmussen, the Q, who had remained invisible during the tour, had swept all the pilfered items into John's duffel bag, not wanting Rasmussen to have them. He thought it would be more fun to watch a primitive like John Christopher try to figure out what to do with the items than it would be for Rasmussen. He also knew that Christopher had better technical knowledge than Rasmussen, even though he was from a more primitive era. According to the Q, Rasmussen really wasn't too bright. Also, only one man would be needed to ensure the safety of the time line and also to ensure that Christine Chapel would not be wiped from existence. If it all worked out, then she would not be the head nurse of the Enterprise, but would enjoy the easy life of an heiress. The Q rather liked that idea, even though it would mean a big change on the good ship Enterprise. He knew that it would leave a gaping hole in the fabric of space and time to take Chapel off the ship, but at least she would be alive and it would give Nyota Uhura a chance to develop feelings for Spock. That also intrigued the Q, considering that in the current time line, the communications officer couldn't stand him.

As he stepped into the briefing room, Kirk ordered him to take a seat. He complied, and looked over at the two men from the past. Kirk introduced him and Rasmussen said they had already met.

Meeting his captain's gaze, he then explained that he had indeed transported into Rasmussen's quarters, on a mission to convince Christopher to return to the twenty-first century. Kirk smiled.

"He has already decided to return, Mr. Chekov. Spock had informed him that if he didn't, then Miss Chapel would cease to exist."

"So he already knows that she is his descendant?"

"Affirmative, Mr. Chekov." Spock answered. "Your job working for Earth's MIB intrigues me. I would appreciate learning more."

"Unfortunately, sir, I am not at liberty to divulge very much. The safety of Earth's time line is at stake." Pavel took a small pen-like device out of a pocket of the civilian clothing he was still wearing. "This device is called a servo. When I press a button on it, it will transport Mr. Christopher and Mr. Rasmussen anywhere they want to go." In actuality it suddenly occurred to Chekov that he could wipe everyone's short term memories of encountering the two men from the past and their knowledge of the Q or Mr. Seven with the servo. It would also wipe Kirk's and Spock's memories of knowing that he worked for the MIB so that there would be no problems later when Kirk actually encountered Supervisor 194.

"Indeed, " Spock responded, intrigued. He turned to the two men from the past. "Are you gentlemen ready to return from whence you came?"

Christopher smiled craftily.

"I am. Are you, Burlinghoff?"

The other man nodded. With a cunning little smile of his own, Chekov pressed the button.


	9. Chapter 9

Unscrupulous

Chapter Nine

Rasmussen and Christopher looked on in intense curiosity and astonishment as Chekov caused Kirk and Spock to freeze as if both were statues. As the young man pushed a few more buttons on his servo device, he explained to them that he was implanting a false memory in his superior's minds of the two being whisked off the ship by the Metrons, who were instrumental in helping Kirk make a peace treaty with the Gorns a year before he was assigned to the ship. Chekov had also erased Kirk's and Spock's memories of his involvement with Earth's MIB forces and the existence of Gary Seven. It had also occurred to Chekov that wiping Kirk's and Spock's memories of Rasmussen and Christopher being on the ship would cause problems later on in sickbay, for McCoy and Chapel would probably not be believed when or if they insisted that the two men from the past had been on the ship. So, he kept the memories of their guests being on the Enterprise intact.

"Will this thing hurt them?" Christopher asked, indicating the servo, a little concerned. After all, the captain and first officer had been nothing but cordial to him. He eventually realized that whoever or whatever the Q was, the being who had appeared in his guest quarters was the one responsible for transporting him to the Enterprise and that Kirk and Spock had nothing to do with him being there.

"Not at all. They are not being harmed. I suspended them in time so that I could explain a couple of things." After an adjustment on his servo, he looked at John. "Mr. Christopher, as you know by now, you were brought here by the Q being for some unknown reason. This crew is not supposed to know about these powerful beings yet, even though they have already met one without knowing it. My mission is to return you two to your own respective time periods." Chekov then turned to Rasmussen. "Sir, Mr. Seven told me that you have taken some items from this ship and are hiding them among your belongings. It would be unwise for you to take them with you to the past. To do so could be disastrous." It had not occurred to either Chekov or Seven to use surveillance on Christopher, for he was not considered a security threat, but just a victim of circumstance.

"How could he know?" Rasmussen asked, startled. However, he had no intention of letting this young man take the items back that he had stolen.

"He has advanced surveillance technology and your temporal reputation made it necessary to monitor your activities. Everything you did before you met me was recorded in the time pod's computers." Once more, the young Russian glanced down at his servo and adjusted it to stun Rasmussen if necessary. He pointed it at him. "Let's go to your quarters and retrieve the items."

"Look!" Rasmussen responded, raising his hands in surrender. "If I am going back to my own century, I will need a way to support myself until I am back on my feet financially. If you use your fancy gadget on me, you won't find the items I took. I have them hidden well."

None of them heard the Q laughing in amusement at the last statement, nor were they aware of his presence.

"There is another way to help you re-integrate yourself into your era. I could replicate the money you need. There is no reason to steal from us."

"A tempting offer, Mr. Chekov, one that I will accept on one condition. You can have the items back as long as you don't replicate counterfeit currency."

"I'm not Harry Mudd." Chekov said with a smile. "My mind is not as devious as yours. The currency will be genuine." He paused for a few seconds, then continued. "If I remember correctly, twenty-second century US currency resembled twenty-first century Canadian money."

Christopher smiled.

"You are right, Mr. Chekov. Canadian money in my era was plastic and looked like Monopoly money."

"What's Monopoly?"

"A twentieth century board game." Rasmussen answered. He then smiled as well. "I bet the Ferengi would love to learn how to play that. They would have a great old time. I also know that the US government adopted the look and feel of Canadian currency after many failed attempts to prevent counterfeiting. Eventually, there was little differences between Monopoly money and the currency I dealt with in the twenty-second century. Chekov, I will need lots of it...at least twenty-five thousand US dollars."

"Not a problem. Come with me, gentlemen."

Christopher glanced back at Kirk and Spock, who were still in suspended animation.

"Are they going to stay like that?"

"Yes, until you two are back to where and when you belong. Let's get a move on."

"One more question, Mr. Chekov." Christopher added. "How are you going to get us off the ship? I don't believe what you told Kirk and Spock about that little gadget you are holding."

"It does have the capability of transporting you two back to your own respective eras, but I have a better idea. I have a hidden time transporter in my quarters. I can transport you one at a time with the servo, but because I cannot afford to trust either of you, I will have to use the other one in my quarters. Let's go. I don't want to keep my superior officers in suspended animation for too long. It's a new feature that Seven just added to the device and it will take some time to get used to."

The two men from the past followed him out of the briefing room and then to Rasmussen's quarters. En route, they noticed that the entire Enterprise crew had also been suspended in time. Chekov, who had not known that this would happen, merely shrugged and smiled. The doors to Rasmussen's guest quarters parted with the customary swish and the man bent down, took out his duffel bag, opened it and then realized that the items were gone. Furiously, he stood and grabbed Pavel's servo, twisting it out of his grasp. He pointed it at him, and Pavel drew in a startled breath when he realized that the servo was now set to kill.

"All right, damn you! Where are they?!"

"Honestly, Rasmussen, I don't know!" Chekov answered, a little frightened, his hands in the air. "Someone must have been here and taken the items, probably security. It could also be that Spock got wind that you pilfered the items and took them as well. Please, take it easy! You have nothing to lose."

"Rasmussen, don't come all unglued about this." Christopher added anxiously. "Give the kid's weapon back to him. There is no need for violence. If I were you, I would be happy to get the twenty-five thousand bucks that he offered you."

"If you give me back my servo, I will give you another five thousand. Thirty thousand dollars is a year's salary, isn't it?"

Rasmussen calmed down a little and sighed. "Yes, I suppose it is. All right. It's a deal. Here is your little gadget."

The two other men breathed a sigh of relief as Chekov was handed his servo. He adjusted it back to the stun setting. They made their way to the nearest replicator in the main rec room and waited as Rasmussen's money was being made. Then, they all stepped into Chekov's hidden transporter and dematerialized.


	10. Chapter 10

Unscrupulous

Chapter Ten

Author note: It had come to my attention that my format was hard to read. I have tried to fix it, but now I will return to my original way of doing it.

Rasmussen, Christopher and Chekov, after leaving the Enterprise via the young navigator's hidden time transporter, materialized together inside Seven's transporter chamber. Christopher was both amazed and amused that it was indeed made to look like a bank vault, just like in the classic TV episode.

Chekov was the first to step out of the enclosure and he gestured to the two men from his past to step forward. He was also the first to notice Mr. Seven, who was standing next to the bookcase, which concealed the advanced interactive computer. Rasmussen stepped out of the "vault" and noticed an attractive young woman, who was sitting on an orange-colored chair that was facing a large ebony office desk to his right. Gary Seven greeted them courteously.

"Greetings, gentlemen. Welcome to the twentieth century."

Christopher and Rasmussen nodded politely, but both were puzzled that they had not yet been transported to their own time periods.

"Why are we here?" Christopher asked. "Weren't we supposed to go back to where we belong?"

"We have come to the realization that you have not yet been compensated for the anguish we put you through when you were fired just for being honest, sir. I will also give you enough money to tide you over until we can fix that. At the very least, we of the Men in Black owe you an apology for getting you canned."

"I'll say!" Christopher barked angrily. "You nearly destroyed my life!"

"We are aware of that, sir. As I said, we can also reproduce enough currency for you as compensation." Christopher thought about that for a moment, and then remembered his hidden tricorder in his duffel bag.

"I have a better idea. If I warn my younger self not to blab to the media that I saw the Enterprise in the sky, then none of this would happen."

"I understand, but I cannot allow you to do that, sir. You would create a paradox. By telling your younger self not to divulge what you saw in 1969, you would also effect the lives of everyone involved. If you warned your younger self and he heeded the warning, then that would disrupt the very fabric of the space-time continuum."

"You are better off this way, Mr. Christopher." The young woman on the orange chair added softly. "Think of this place and time as a weigh station. Please empty your bags, gentlemen. We have to make sure that neither of you are carrying any contraband."

As soon as the young woman spoke, Seven realized that she was not who she appeared to be.

"Isis, why are you pretending to be Roberta?"

The woman's eyes widened in surprise. Christopher was close enough to notice her pupils were vertical and looked feline.

"How did you know that it was I?"

"Because I have learned to recognize you in any form you may take. Besides, your voice and mannerisms gave you away. Please answer my question."

"As you know, Roberta and I have become good friends. I was just looking out for her. I was filling in for her so you would not fire her for being late."

Everyone in the room smiled. Now that was a true friend.

"And I thought that Roberta was the one who usually jumped to conclusions. She's not late and don't worry. I sent her out for some herbal tea."

Isis smiled back and transformed herself back into her usual human form.

"Herbal tea in 1970?* Sir, you know that only hippies and beat nicks drink that in this era. She may have difficulty finding it."

Seven smiled back at her.

"You forget that she is engaged to a hippie. She won't have much difficulty finding it. I told her, however, that if she did not find it, she could bring back orange pekoe." As Seven spoke, Roberta walked into the room through the open doorway to the outer office. In her right hand was a box of orange pekoe tea. Strains of a popular song from The Guess Who could be heard from a small transistor radio clipped to her black belt around her slender waist:

_"No time for my watch and chain... no time left for you..."_

Listening to the lyrics of the song, Chekov then remembered that his ship mates were still suspended in time on the Enterprise. He would have to return to the future soon. The other two men smiled when they recognized the song, having heard it often during their youth and on radio oldies stations.

"Gentlemen, do what she says. Open your bags and empty their contents."

"Shove it up your Russkie ass!" Rasmussen shouted angrily. "You know very well that I'm not carrying anything that doesn't belong to me!"

"It's just a formality, Rasmussen." Seven said with a sigh, feeling sorry for Chekov having to endure a racial slur. "Do it or both of you will return to your own time empty handed."

Christopher tensed up, suddenly recalling the tricorder he had stolen from the Enterprise. If they were to find out that he had taken it from Kirk's ship, he would not have a way to compensate himself the way he felt he deserved to. However, noticing that Chekov was still holding his servo weapon and recalling how powerful the device was, he reluctantly complied. Soon, he realized with contained astonishment and dismay that the tricorder he had stolen had mysteriously vanished. He gave Rasmussen a suspicious look as his new friend also opened his bag. Christopher frowned in puzzlement when there was nothing in it from the twenty-third century. Where did the tricorder go?

It was not known to Christopher or Rasmussen that Isis was telepathic and had been reading the minds of the two men the whole time they were standing there in Seven's apartment. She knew that Christopher had taken a tricorder off the Enterprise, but now was just as puzzled that they now could find no evidence of theft. Also, none were aware that the Q was still present and that he had taken the stolen items temporarily, planning to give them back to Christopher upon their return to their respective time periods. Still invisible, he was now happy that Christopher's lovely descendant, Miss Christine Chapel, would become a very wealthy woman. She would not have to work a day in her life. However, her romantic interest in Spock would not occur because of this alteration in history. In fact, many things would change, and the Q was looking forward now to seeing what was going to happen next.

* I just found out this song came out in 1969. This also fixes an error in Roberta's time line. She met her boyfriend Maury at Woodstock.


	11. Chapter 11

Unscrupulous

Chapter Eleven

Rasmussen was the first to depart. He soon realized that as boring as his life had been in the twenty-second century, he had actually missed it. He knew that it would be a long time until he would see another extraterrestrial and he was glad. The ones he had encountered on Nimbus Three were usually not very friendly and some, like the Andorians and the Klingons, were downright hostile. He closed his eyes as Mr. Seven operated the controls on his time transporter. A few moments later, he felt blades of green grass tickle his shins. He opened his eyes and looked down, sighing as he realized that he was standing in his back yard and that the grass would have to be mowed. He looked up at his old brownstone apartment building where he lived. Things looked as they should as he walked into the building through the back door. Using a key card that he kept in his wallet, he opened the door to his apartment. Suddenly concerned about the time and date, he activated his video screen. To his relief, even though he had actually been gone for over a decade, it indicated to him that he had only been gone a day. With relief, he sat down on his couch, briefly wondering how he was going to explain to everyone why he looked ten years older. However, there was a more pressing concern. He opened his duffel bag. The newly replicated cash was still there. Smiling with relief, he realized that he would be able to pay the land lady her rent with no problem. He withdrew a wad of cash out of the bag to examine it. To his dismay, he found that the year on the currency was two years in the future. Enraged, but unable to do anything about it, he cursed and threw the money across the room. Nothing ever went right for him. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the Q appeared.

"Hello, Burl. Why the temper tantrum?"

"Hello yourself, Q. The money that Chekov replicated is no good. I won't be able to use it for another two years." Rasmussen growled unhappily.

"Oh, have your little friends on the good ship Enterprise made an error in time? How delightfully fallible of them." The Q responded in obvious amusement. He waved a hand and the scattered cash floated back into the bag. "There, Burl. It should be the right year now. Enjoy it. I'm off to bigger and better things."

"Wait, Q!" Rasmussen said. "How am I going to explain why I look ten years older than I did the day before?"

"You could say that you have been under a lot of stress." The Q responded, looking him over. "On the other hand, that might not work. You do look like an old man." With another wave of his hand, the Q erased the signs of aging on Rasmussen's face and body, making him look ten years younger. "See you around." With another flash of light, the Q disappeared.

Miss Lincoln switched off her little radio as she was introduced to Mr. Chekov and Mr. Christopher. The latter was both amazed and amused that she too was a real person and not just a fictional character from a long dead television show. At first, she was a little nervous, but the young Russian quickly set her at ease. Seven explained that the Russians were not the evil monsters the government wanted people to believe they were, even in this Cold War era and that she would probably be seeing him often during her training as an MIB agent. The young man was very pleasant and she noticed as he shook her hand that he was wearing a gold and black Starfleet uniform.

"Nice to meet you, sir. What starship do you command?"

The young Russian smiled in amusement as Seven replied instead.

"He's an ensign, Miss Lincoln. He is wearing command gold because he has recently been promoted to head navigator on the Enterprise for saving Kirk's life."

"Wow, congratulations."

"Spasibo, Miss Lincoln. Mr. Seven. I really should be getting back to the ship. The crew are frozen in suspended animation. By the way, you did not tell me that that would happen."

"Sorry about that, Pav. We are still working out the bugs in the system."

"I see..." He paused in thought for a moment. "Well, I guess there will be no harm done. Will you be all right, Mr. Christopher?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Mr. Seven here told me that my pension has been reinstated. I am still mystified as to what happened to those items that Rasmussen swiped." Christopher responded carefully, unwilling to let on that he too had taken something off the ship.

"Don't worry about it too much, sir. Security probably confiscated them." Chekov said. "Mr. Seven, when I return to my own time, I will let you know if there are any significant changes to the time line. However, I anticipate no problems." He looked back at Miss Lincoln with a warm smile. "So long for now, Miss Lincoln. It was a pleasure meeting you and I will look forward to our next encounter."

"As will I," Roberta responded, returning the smile and watching as the young Russian stepped into the transporter alcove made to look like a walk-in vault. She looked on with amazement as Seven operated the controls and the young man in the Starfleet uniform dissolved in the blue haze of the transporter effect. She then looked at Seven. "I don't know if I will ever get used to that."

"You eventually will, Miss Lincoln. The novelty will wear off in time. By the way, have you told your fiance about all of this yet?"

"Not yet, sir. You told me that I was a security risk. He still thinks I work for a firm that manufactures and sells encyclopedias. I figured the less he knows about what I really am doing for a living, the better."

"Good thinking. I will tell him myself. He might not believe you anyway." Seven turned to Christopher. "It's your turn. John. Step into the vault."

Christopher complied, somewhat eager to return home to the twenty-first century. He watched as Seven set the controls for his era. "Ready to energize now. Good luck, sir."

As Chekov materialized on board the Enterprise, the first thing that he did was return to the briefing room so that there would be no questions asked. He shook his head in amazement at the sight of his superior officers, who were still frozen in time. Quickly, he activated his servo and they became aware of things around them again. Suddenly he was startled as he noticed that both of them were now wearing gun belts that were holding type two phasers in their holsters. However, he did not let on that there had obviously been a change when he was gone.

"Mr. Chekov, you have been called to the briefing room because we want to know if the cloaking device is in good working order. As you know, we have recently repaired the doomsday machine and are going to use it on the Romulans in retaliation for their unprovoked attack on our Federation outposts." Kirk said, puzzled by the look on the young man's face. Then, he shrugged it off, knowing that the young Russian was fairly new to the Enterprise.

"We are planning on destroying them, sir?" Pavel tried valiantly to mask his shock and dismay.

"Yes, Ensign. We will be obliterating their home world, implementing General order Twenty-four."

"Sir, with all due respect...we are supposed to be a ship of peace and exploration."

"Obviously, Ensign, you have been misinformed." Spock said, raising an eyebrow. "We are the Federation's law enforcement officers and a crime has been committed against us. We at war with them. This attack we have planned will also send a clear message to the Klingons and other hostile species that we will not tolerate any further unprovoked attacks within Federation space."

"Well, Ensign? Is the cloaking device in good working order?"

"I will have to check with Mr. Scott, sir."

"Very well. Do so and report battle readiness to me and Chief of security Sulu."

"Aye, sir." Pavel half-whispered, aghast, watching as his two superior officers went back to the bridge.


	12. Chapter 12

Unscrupulous

Chapter Twelve

There was another MIB agent on the Enterprise that nobody but Pavel knew about and that was Kevin Riley. Since Riley was going to leave the ship soon, ostensibly to get a desk job at Starfleet headquarters, Chekov knew he would have to contact him as soon as possible. Riley's secret reason for leaving the Enterprise was that he was going to work for Seven on a permanent basis in the twentieth century. Chekov had to find out as much as he could about how history could have been altered so drastically since his initial departure so he could give a full report to Mr. Seven. The thought had also occurred to Chekov that Mr. Scott could also be a source of information. He felt that he could not risk asking Kirk without arousing suspicion, for the captain would probably ask him too many questions that he as an undercover MIB agent could not answer. He also knew that Kirk did not take him seriously at times and that if the time line had been changed, the captain would probably assume that he knew what had happened.

As Pavel entered the engineering section, he saw Scotty working on the engines near the warp core, obviously trying to get them to work at peak efficiency. Scott saw the young man out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, hello, Chekov."

"Greetings, sir. The captain sent me here to ask if the cloaking device is working properly."

"That it is, lad." Scott diverted his attention to it. "Isn't it marvelous? Because of Roykirk* and Christopher, we got to develop the first viable cloaking device. We have defeated every foe who dared to attack us."

"Uh...right. Jackson Roykirk and Captain John Christopher developed it together." Chekov ventured a bit furtively.

"Aye, that's right. With the technological developments and advances of the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries, we were also able to repair that planet killer to the point where we are in complete control of it and of this quadrant. As you know, the doomsday machine is now docked at Utopia Planitia, being readied for use against anyone who dares to attack us."

"I see." Chekov responded, trying to reign in his shock. "The captain did mention General Order Twenty-Four." **

"Aye, lad. Starfleet wants us to wipe the Romulans out. The Intrepid II is going to help us maintain control of the device."

"Sir...isn't that a bit drastic? Do we really have to wipe out an entire race because of the actions of a few?"

"You are talking like a bleeding heart politician, Chekov. That is unlike you."

"It is just that I feel we should not kill needlessly. We are not Klingons. It is a waste of our resources. We have better things to do than to wipe out an entire species."

"This is a kill or be killed universe, Chekov. Because the human race does not have much going for it besides technology, we have to ensure our survival by wiping out those vermin who attacked and killed our citizens without provocation."

"But, sir...if we wiped out every hostile species who dares to attack us, what then are we going to do with the planet killer?"

Scott paused for a moment in thought.

"We could use it as a mining tool by refining its defensive capabilities. Also, in a universe with billions of planets and possible hostile species, that will never happen. There will always be someone out there who thinks they are better than we are, and, like the Klingons, want to test our capabilities in battle. Also, it would be a great deterrent for those who get it into their heads to attack us again."

"Is the new Intrepid still manned by Vulcans?"

"Aye. They also are in agreement with us and are our closest allies."

"Sir...about the cloaking device. What about the Treaty of Algeron?"***

"The what, lad? I never heard of that."

"Never mind." Chekov said, a little embarrassed, knowing that the treaty would not be signed for another eighty years. "I guess I was thinking of another pact we have made. In essence, then, we have told those hostile species that if they don't attack us, we won't attack them."

"Aye, lad. Now you must go and tell the captain that the cloak is working perfectly."

"Aye, sir. Good day to you."

"Good day, lad." Scotty responded with a look of amusement on his face. It was obvious to Chekov that he thought he was a bit green and naive.

As Pavel made his way to the nearest intercom, he wondered no longer why the Romulans who survived the destruction of their home world were going to destroy Vulcan in the future with their own doomsday machine. Suddenly, the red alert klaxon sounded. Chekov flipped the switch, wondering what was up now as he felt the ship shutter from an apparent phaser hit. "Bridge, this is Ensign Chekov. What is going on?"

"This is Kirk, Ensign. Get your butt up here fast. We are under attack by the Klingons."

"Those Cossack assholes! Why are they attacking us? Never mind; I'm on my way, sir. By the way, Scott says that the cloak is working perfectly."

Christopher materialized in the foyer of his ranch-style house. He had been a little frightened at the prospect of time travel, having never fully experienced it before. He had closed his eyes as Seven manipulated the controls to his safe-like transporter. At first, he felt a little dizzy and light headed. The feeling soon passed as he felt his feet settle on the solid surface of his hard wood floor. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a silver-colored box near the entry way to his living room. Puzzled, he approached it cautiously. There was another flash of light and he soon realized that the Q was leaning against the wall, facing him.

"Welcome home, John boy." He greeted with a grin, gesturing towards the box. Christopher grimaced at the Waltons reference. He always hated that show. "This is a present for all your troubles. The box contains all the items you will need to get yourself and your descendants on the road to easy street. I know you are smarter than Rasmussen and will be able to make good use out of these devices."

"These are from the Enterprise?" Christopher asked in astonishment.

"Yes, and they are all yours, to do what you want with them."

"Why are you doing this? Isn't this stealing?"

"Because I like you and your lovely descendant, Nurse Chapel. I want you to have an easier life from now on. You deserve it." The Q pulled a piece of paper out of thin air. "Contact this gentleman. He can help you get started after he develops the Nomad probe."

Christopher stared at him in disbelief at the thought of meeting the real Jackson Roykirk and that the pretty young head nurse on the Enterprise was family. However, he rather liked the idea and decided then to play along. "Inventing" these gadgets that were pilfered from the future might indeed be fun and profitable.

*See "The Changeling"

** See "A Taste of Armageddon"

*** See "The Pegasus"


	13. Chapter 13

Unscrupulous

Chapter 13

As Pavel Chekov entered the bridge and took his seat at navigation, he noticed that the yellow alert was sounding instead of the red. Puzzled and deeply concerned at Kirk's blasé attitude towards the Klingon's blatant encroachment into Federation territory, he heard Uhura announce that the captain of the Klingon ship had ceased fire and was hailing them. Kirk waved a hand of dismissal and asked for a damage report.

"Shields are up, Captain." Spock answered calmly. "No appreciable damage."

Chekov stared at his readings in puzzlement. The Klingon phasers had only been on half intensity. Uhura spoke again.

"It's Kang, sir. He wishes to speak with you."

"Very well. Continue alert status and put him on screen."

Uhura complied and they watched as the face of Kang appeared on their viewing screen.

"Kang, you idiot...you have unmitigated gall coming into Federation space and firing on the flagship. What is the meaning of this attack? You know very well that this could be considered an act of war."

"I thought it would get your attention, Kirk. It was not exactly an attack. If it had been, I would have used full phasers. It was more of a salute from one warrior to another. Also, I would have enjoyed a little skirmish with you. It would have been a fun diversion for my crew. However, I know that Earthlings do not like to do battle as much as we do and that you have superior weapons. A real attack on you, my friend, would have been foolish."

"I will give you a one-finger salute, you piece of Denevan flying vomit." Kirk retorted contemptuously. "You are right, though. We would have been within our rights to blow you out of the sky. What the hell are you doing here?"

"I have received permission from your Starfleet officials and am here on behalf of my government to politely ask you for cloaking technology." Kirk glanced at Uhura for confirmation and she shrugged.

"What makes you think I would give you anything, Kor?"

"Kang"

"Whatever."

Uhura chuckled nervously and Chekov smiled. "You all look alike to me."

Kang grinned in amusement.

"Kirk, I admire you. Trading insults is fun, but I'm on a serious mission. I developed a lot of respect for you after that incident with the non-corporeal entity on your ship. What's with the attitude? Is it in deference to your young navigator, whose brother is no doubt in Stovokor?"

Kirk looked to his first officer in puzzlement.

"Klingon 'Heaven', Captain."

"The entity made Pavel believe he had a brother when he didn't. Anyway, we don't believe what you do. I for one wouldn't want to spend eternity with a bunch of fuzz faced goons on a dingy old barge." Kirk paused, not yet knowing that Chekov really did have a brother and that he resided in the mirror universe. Pavel kept quiet, unwilling to divulge that fact. "All right, Kang. What will you offer in exchange for the cloaking device?"

"How little you know about us, Kirk." Kang's expression of amusement didn't change as he paused thoughtfully and then continued. "We will become your allies and will help you fight and defeat the Romulans."

"A tempting offer, Kang, but, as you well know, we do not need your help."

"Yes, I know of the derelict alien planet killer you have repaired. We just want to be sure you will not use the machine on us."

"We won't if your people behave themselves, Kang. You can become our allies if you want, but I thought you and the Romulans were allies."

Kang smiled again.

"Contrary to popular belief, Captain, we are not...what is the human expression?... bosom buddies with the Romulans. They won't share their new cloaking technology, have no honor and are sneaky and treacherous. We at least know where we stand with Starfleet and want to destroy them as much as you do."

"Captain," Spock interrupted softly. "The Klingons would make powerful and formidable allies."

"Why thank you, Spock. That is very kind of you. Well, Kirk? Do we have a deal?"

"Before we sign on the dotted line, Kang, I would like to verify that the Klingon High Council did indeed send you here to strike a deal with us."

"Of course, Captain. I know that will take some time at this distance from your headquarters, so we will wait. By Mara's calculations, that will take about ten of your hours. We will go to K-7 until then. Kang out."

Eight hours later, Chekov's shift ended and he decided that now would be a good time to have a chat with his fellow MIB agent, Kevin Riley. He paused at the door to Riley's quarters and tentatively rang his door buzzer.

"Come in, Pavel."

Chekov's eyes widened a little as he stepped into Riley's quarters.

"How did you know it was I?"

"I have been expecting you. Supervisor 194 told me that you work for him too when you are not aboard the Enterprise. He's also made me aware of the troubling changes to the time line. Sit down. May I offer you a drink?"

"No thanks, sir." Pavel answered, recalling that Riley outranked him. "I did not come to drink. I just want to know if we are really planning to implement General Order Twenty-Four."*

"Yes, we are. It will teach other hostile races not to mess with us."

"But, sir...isn't that like swatting a mosquito with a sledge hammer?"

"Perhaps. It does seem a bit extreme, but it is necessary for the security of the Federation."

"Riley, I thought we were a group of peaceful explorers, not murderers. If we destroy the Romulans, we would be no better than they are. Also, the time line has been screwed with. One of us will have to go back in time and fix things. I do not like what we have become."

"Yes, I know. Seven told me all about the changes. I will go. The items that were stolen must be returned or we will end up like the Klingons or worse."

"We might even end up like the Borg."

"Who are they?"

"Beings who reside on the other side of the galaxy in the Delta quadrant, who integrate technology within their bodies. They rely on it so much that they can't live without it."

"You are right, Pavel. That doesn't sound like the future I would want for humanity. Today is my last day on the ship. I will do my best to get the stolen devices back. I know that if you disappeared from the ship again, suspicions would be aroused. Also,since you are already aware of the changes in the time line, you will also know if I am successful. At any rate, I will keep you informed."

"You have your work cut out for you, sir, and you are the better choice to retrieve the items that are missing, since you are leaving Starfleet to work for the supervisor. All the best to you and good luck."

* In case you all have forgotten, General Order Twenty-Four was almost used in "A Taste of Armageddon".


	14. Chapter 14

Unscrupulous

Chapter 14

Chekov was not at all surprised when he learned that Kang was telling the truth. Also, the reason that Starfleet Command didn't inform the Enterprise of their plans to destroy Romulus with the doomsday machine was that they didn't want the Romulans to get wind of it and wanted it to be a surprise attack. The Federation had agreed that it was in Starfleet's best interests to share cloaking technology with the Klingons. He learned as well that in this time line, his people were not at war with the Klingons, but only with the Romulans because of their unprovoked attacks on neutral zone outposts.* He also found it somewhat gratifying that his captain had not taken the Romulan version of the cloaking device in vain. However, what he found disturbing was that there was no kind of treaty made with the Romulans or anyone else. That meant that Starfleet was having to rely on their advanced technologies to stay ahead of hostile species.

The doomsday machine was a powerful weapon to be sure, but Pavel was concerned that someone might come up with something even more destructive. However, he did not see how anyone could in the foreseeable future. Even the Borg could be defeated with the newly repaired planet killer. He paused as he left Riley's quarters, wondering if some far-off Delta quadrant alien species had actually constructed the doomsday machine for that purpose, only to have the device get away from them and create a deadly path of destruction for hundreds of years before its arrival in the Alpha quadrant. The thought intrigued him and it was entirely possible. He had been unsuccessful in an attempt to talk Kirk out of using General Order 24 and the repaired doomsday machine against the Romulans.

Riley had to leave the Enterprise in a conventional manner so as not to arouse suspicion. He took the shuttle _Copernicus _on his journey to the nearest Federation star base that had a secret underground base for MIB agents to use to transport anywhere they needed to go. He docked the shuttle and stayed for a time in a bar, pretending to be just another Starfleet officer on shore leave. He was certain that nobody there suspected him of being anything other than what he appeared to be: a Starfleet officer on furlough. Quietly under the cover of night, he left the bar, stepped into a subway entrance and into a secret transporter alcove, cleverly disguised as an old fashioned toll booth. He activated the hidden transporter controls and vanished in a blue mist.

He materialized in Seven's vault a few seconds later. The supervisor greeted him courteously.

"Welcome to the twentieth century, Mr. Riley."

"Thank you, sir." Riley then noticed the face of a familiar attractive young blonde woman. She was standing behind Seven's ebony office desk, smartly dressed in a Jacqueline Kennedy-style pink suit dress with a matching pill box hat. He bowed in her direction and she smiled benignly. "Hello again, young lady. Nice to see you again, 258."

"Yes, she is a new agent. Since your last visit here, Pavel and her have become very good friends. Miss Lincoln will be accompanying you into the future."

"I see. Miss Lincoln, my dear, you will have to lose the hat. Not many women in the twenty-first century wear stuff like that. Even though you look very nice..."

"I would look out of place." She finished softly.

"Correct, Miss Lincoln." Seven added gently. "You should also lose the gloves. That fad will soon die out."

The men watched as she complied, placing her gloves in her little purse that was hanging on her wrist and the hat on Seven's desk, next to the little green sensor cube. She then smiled as she spoke again.

"The year 1974 was kind of groovy. How far will we go this time?"

"You and Mr. Riley will be going to the year 2020, over a half a century from now. By the way, you did very well in 1974, Miss Lincoln. I'm glad that that Bester creep didn't kill you."

"Me too, sir. He very nearly succeeded. If it hadn't have been for Mr. Quinn, I would have been a goner. I just hope I won't be encountering any others like him...or any more giant bugs." She shuttered and glanced in Riley's direction and he nodded in agreement.***

"I'm sure you won't, Miss Lincoln." Riley said cordially. "Captain Christopher is not a violent person and certainly is no telepath."

Seven had a startled look on his face.

"Not all Q's are as nice as your friend, Roberta. Riley, how do you know about that?"

"Chekov told me about his doppelganger when he was recovering from his brain injury on Star Base 515 after Scotty left."**

"Oh, yes, of course. Riley, if you are not successful at returning the stolen items, then Miss Lincoln will have to turn on her charms to help get them back."

"Sir...why me? Is he a dirty old man? Certainly there are more qualified people to accompany Mr. Riley. What about Pavel?"

"Pavel is busy with his navigation duties on board the Enterprise. Christopher is more like a sexy senior citizen." Seven joked with a smile. "Besides, you need the experience. Are you afraid that something might happen to you?"

"Frankly yes, sir. My last few experiences with time travel, chasing after madmen and going to other planets were pretty scary."

"Don't worry, Miss Lincoln. Riley will act as a chaperone. Also, you won't be going to another planet." Riley nodded with amusement and she blushed. "Good luck you two. You are going to need it. He probably won't give up the items without a fight."

Seven watched as they both stepped into the vault, Riley letting Roberta enter it first. As they dematerialized, Seven smiled ever so slightly as Roberta closed her eyes with a little trepidation, still not used to transporting in this manner.

Christopher was not overly surprised to see Miss Lincoln and Mr. Riley suddenly materialize right in front of him as he was watching the news on TV. He had been expecting them to appear, for the Q had paid him another visit, telling him that they were coming to retrieve the stolen items from the future. He did not wish to give them up, but when he learned about how history had been altered, and even though it meant that his descendant would not have the easy life of a wealthy heiress, he gave them what he thought was the box. Thinking their mission had been accomplished, they went back to Seven's apartment, only to find out that the stolen items had been replaced by toy replicas.

Thirty years went by after that. Colonel Sean Jeffrey Christopher, Jr. was en route to Saturn, unaware that in the ship's cargo hold, a familiar little silver box had appeared among the supplies needed for the trip in a flash of light, compliments of the Q.

* "Balance of Terror"

** "The Bester of Both Worlds"

*** "Unlucky Seven"


	15. Chapter 15

Unscrupulous

Chapter 15

The Q didn't really want Sean Jeffrey Christopher, Jr. to find the box he had hidden aboard the spaceship that was bound for Saturn, but he also didn't want any of Gary Seven's agents to wreck his plans to give Nurse Chapel a better life as a wealthy heiress. In the new reality he had created for her, she had married Dr. Roger Corby1, who had not gone to Exo Three and had not, at the moment of death, had his knowledge and personality implanted in an android replica. The Q was quite infatuated with Christine, and wanted her to be happy. He never appeared to her, for it was not yet time for humans to know about his species. He also was under the mistaken impression that humans in her era were still obsessed with money and that it brought happiness.

For a while after marrying Roger, Christine was happy, but only because of him and his love for her, not because she had lots of money. After a few years, Roger's work as an archeologist had begun to take up most of his time and he was away from home for days at a time. Christine had a good job of her own, even though she didn't need to work. She had the need to feel useful and to not be a snobby rich heiress. Her job as the head of Starfleet medical on Earth kept her busy. Even though she was an intelligent person and still a nurse, she felt discriminated against because of her wealth and could not serve aboard a starship because of her marital status. Even though she had everything that money could buy, she was still a lonely woman. She still loved Roger, though, so the Q stayed out of her life, but looked in on her from time to time. Christine wished that things could be different between her and Roger and wished also that Starfleet would change it's outmoded policies of not letting married women serve aboard starships. She suffered from low grade depression most of the time and knew that most of her office staff and colleagues did not understand. Some were jealous of her, called her names like "poor little rich girl" and that jealousy clouded their perceptions of her. Often, to compensate for her acute sense of loneliness, she decided to pour herself into her work as an instructor at Starfleet medical, trying with some measure of success to find meaning in her somewhat empty life. The Q did not understand all this, though, so when Riley and Miss Lincoln visited Christine's ancestor, John Christopher, he spirited the stolen items away and replaced them with toys that he borrowed from a twenty-first century die hard Trekkie, who had them stored away on a top shelf of a linen closet in her home. Having outgrown them, the woman he borrowed the toys from did not even know they had disappeared. However, the Q knew that Gary Seven was not going to give up after only one try, so he decided to disguise himself as Sean Christopher Sr., making his appearance on Sean Junior's TV look like a recording, admonishing him to not let anyone know about the real items. After the Q knew the coast was clear, he transported the real items from the spaceship to the attic in Sean Jr's inherited mansion, and when Seven and his crew weren't looking, transported the toys back to their rightful owner.

Supervisor 194 was not expecting his agents to return so quickly, but for a few moments before opening the little silver box and inspecting the items within, was relieved to see it and them. After getting over the shock of finding out that the items were fake replicas, he addressed the two agents as he typed information into his large interactive computer.

"Mr. Riley, Miss Lincoln, you will have to return to the future for the real items. If you are not successful, history will be permanently altered."

"Sir" Roberta asked curiously, "Did someone actually make these things for kids to play with?"

"Yes, Miss Lincoln. Also, there are many adult collectors. I don't know where these came from, but from the looks of them, these items were borrowed from an adult collector. Some items were still in the boxes they came in and they have a layer of dust on them from being stored away,"

"It's a shame they weren't the real articles." Riley added quietly. "However, it was fairly obvious to me that Mr. Christopher really thought they were. I don't know about Roberta, but I don't feel right about going back to him and bugging him about this again."

"This time you and Roberta won't be going back to John. You will be going to Sean Junior after he gets back from Saturn."

"What's at Saturn?" Roberta asked curiously. "Isn't it just a big ball of gas with pretty rings around it?"

"Oh, it's much more than that, Roberta. There is a mysterious pentagonal shaped formation at the planet's north pole that formed in the early part of the twenty-first century. Deep within the planet's rocky core, there is a secret base that our alien friends use when monitoring developments here on Earth. They are using the planet's thick gaseous atmosphere as a shield. They have informed me, however, that the five-sided formation at the pole is not their doing. It is not a natural phenomenon and they are just as mystified as the twenty-first century scientists who discovered it when they sent unmanned probes to learn more about Saturn and it's rings. You and Riley will be going to the year 2050 to try and retrieve the stolen items. Since Sean Jr. is our only remaining lead in getting them back to their rightful place, you and Riley will have to convince him to give them up."

"That's a tall order, sir, but we will try. I wonder who made the formation." Riley said.

"My guess is the Q. He has a lot of power and he told me once that his species gets bored easily."

"That is an intelligent guess, Miss Lincoln, and you might be right. I don't think that it's a coincidence that the formation appeared soon after Christopher and Roykirk began to 'invent' the devices that made Christine Chapel a wealthy heiress in the future, thus altering her history and everyone else." With that, Seven waved them back into the vault transporter and set the controls for the house of Sean Jeffrey Christopher Jr.

1"What are Little Girls Made of?"


	16. Chapter 16

Unscrupulous

Chapter 16

Pavel was appalled as he watched the destruction of the Romulan home world on the remote cameras that had been attached to the newly repaired doomsday machine. It was obvious to him that Riley had been unsuccessful at repairing the time line by retrieving the stolen items. Chapel was still not on board, and nobody had even heard of her. He had not heard a peep out of Mr. Seven or out of Riley, which was beginning to worry him. Never before had he lost contact with the supervisor for so long and he was wondering what was going on. He was beginning to realize that it was entirely possible that he would be stuck in this awful time line for the rest of his career and quite possibly for the rest of his life. However, right now, he had to concentrate on his job as chief navigator of the Enterprise. Chekov always thought that General Order Twenty-Four was a bad idea, for it meant the destruction of innocent lives as well as the guilty. It was a totally barbaric way to dispose of their enemies. He could not talk his captain out of it, but even now he was beginning to suspect that even Kirk was starting to regret this act. Also, soon after the Romulan home world had been reduced to rubble, the cameras and the sensors shut down, obviously fried by the amount of power needed to obliterate an entire planet. He could feel the tension increasing on the bridge as Uhura tried to re-establish contact with the device. They were all beginning to suspect that the cloaking device Kang helped them install had failed as well, and the surviving Romulans in neighboring star systems would soon find out that it was they who attacked them. Worse yet was the fact they no longer had any means of control or retrieval of the device. It could be anywhere by now, with a new lease on life, continuing it's relentless journey by destroying planetary bodies for fuel. Also, for Starfleet to enter Romulan space would make them instant targets for retaliation.

Riley and Roberta materialized without incident in the foyer of Sean Junior's mansion. They discovered Cedric the butler cowering in a corner by the entrance, looking quite frightened. He did not know what to make of what he was seeing and looked to them for an explanation. He had been unable to reach Sean Junior because of some sort of force field. The young astronaut appeared to be frozen in time, seated at the instruments of his spaceship, a strange swirling hexagonal shape surrounding him. When Riley and Roberta followed Cedric's gaze, they could not see the living room furnishings, for they were obliterated by the strange sight. Roberta finally spoke.

"Riley...that shape looks like the one you said was on top of Saturn, but you said it had five sides, not six."

"I must have miscounted, but come to think of it, you might be right. Seven did say that this might be a construct of the Q and that it was not a natural phenomenon. Don't be scared, sir." He said to the butler. "It won't hurt you and neither will we. This looks like some kind of time distortion. Something or someone is holding Sean here for some reason….only, from the looks of it, he's not really here but still on his spaceship."

"Why would they do that?" Roberta wondered, looking puzzled. "It's not his fault that his grandfather and Rasmussen stole those items."

"Who are you people?" Cedric asked. "How did you get past security and how did you suddenly appear out of nowhere? What do you want?"

"We are from a secret government organization that tracks and polices extraterrestrial activities here on planet Earth, sir. How we got here is not important. My name is Riley and this is Roberta. We are here to retrieve some stolen items from the future that have come in the possession of Mr. Christopher." He flipped open his communicator. "Agent 152 to Supervisor 194. Please respond, sir."

They heard nothing but static.

"Something must be interfering with the signal." Roberta guessed intelligently. "Maybe it's that vortex that's surrounding Sean."

"Hm. It could also be the reason why we lost contact with Chekov."

Roberta nodded in agreement.

"Who the hell is Chekov?" Cedric asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Are you really Russian spies?"

"I thought that crap ended with the nineteen sixties Cold War, sir. Chekov is a friend of ours and fellow MIB agent from the twenty-third century. Sean's grandfather and another man had pilfered some technology that humanity wasn't meant to have in the latter part of the twentieth century that is from the future. We are here to get it back so no more damage is done to the time line."

"I saw Master Christopher fiddling with a silver box earlier." Cedric said, calming himself. "Could that have the items you are looking for?"

"Possibly, sir. Could you let us see the box?"

"Of course. It's in the closet in the foyer. I will get it for you."

Cedric watched now with interest as the two strangers opened the box with apparent ease, using some kind of tool that resembled a ball point pen. He had been instructed never to attempt to open it, but to store it in a safe place where no one would think to look. He knew some kind of combination was usually needed to open it and was now beginning to believe their outlandish story about being MIB agents as he saw the futuristic contents. Riley smiled as he picked up the tricorder and they looked relieved when they discovered that these were the real items and not the toy replicas.

"Sir, we must take these items with us. They don't belong in the twenty-first century." Riley addressed the butler. "Maybe when we do, whoever or whatever is holding Sean will let him go. If we take the items with us, there will be no reason why he should be frozen is suspended animation like this...unless it actually is a natural phenomenon."

"We should get out of that distortion's range so we can contact Mr. Seven, Mr. Riley."

"Agreed, Roberta."

"How do you know what that thing's range is, Mr. Riley?"

"We can take a guess, Cedric."

"How do you know my name? We have never met before."

"Supervisor 194 told us. Let's go on the front lawn and see if we can contact Seven there."

"This I'd like to see." Cedric said, now with a slight smile on his face. From the look on his face now, he had finally recognized their names from a hundred year old science fiction television show. He followed them out on the front lawn by a water fountain. Riley flipped open his communicator and tried again.

There was a sudden flash of light. Roberta knew almost right away who it was. She stared at the Q, who was dressed in a twenty-fourth century Starfleet uniform with four pips on his collar. However, he was not the Q who had become her friend in the past.

"You are both too late. Jackson Roykirk was given blueprints of the items and has already developed the advanced technology."

"So what's the use of holding him in that strange vortex?"

"He simply got too close to the event horizon. It is a time distortion, as you guessed. I made it so I could distract humanity so you wouldn't move too far into space. I can move his ship so he isn't stuck anymore. However, the time line will remain as it is."


	17. Chapter 17

Unscrupulous

Chapter 17

The Q had informed the two MIB agents that he had taken the liberty of disposing of the doomsday machine, teleporting it to the galactic barrier where it was rendered forever inoperative, having served its new purpose, now nothing more than a dead chunk of neutronium. Before he disappeared in his customary flash of light, he had asked Riley to tell Chekov of the machine's destruction, even though the Romulans already knew that Starfleet was responsible for the destruction of their home world. When the Romulans were able to, they set out for Federation space to retaliate, totally unaware of the strange time vortex on top of Saturn. Speaking of that, when Cedric had returned to the house after the two MIB agents had disappeared, he discovered that the strange image of Christopher at his controls on his spaceship in his house had been removed from his living room. Also unknown to the Romulans, when they had destroyed the Federation outposts at the border of the neutral zone*, they had been displaced in time. To Starfleet, the attack on the outposts was purely unprovoked. That act of retaliation on the part of the Romulans had created a vicious circle, for they were actually retaliating for the doomsday machine attack on their home world years before it happened. In other words, the Romulans were retaliating for a future retaliation. Needless to say, the Q got a good laugh at that at humanity's expense. He still considered humans to be a dangerous savage child race, unfit for space travel, even though he still had feelings for Nurse Chapel. He now realized that she was not happy being married to an often absent Roger Corby, but he still did not want to change things back to the way they were. He had even implanted this whole new scenario into the mind of a certain dead-headed money grubbing movie producer named J.J. Abrams, who went on to systematically destroy all that was good and wholesome of the world that Gene Roddenberry had revealed to twentieth century Earth.

Riley and Roberta felt that they had no choice but to return to Seven's apartment in New York City for further instructions. Neither had any idea where to find Jackson Roykirk, so they were hoping Seven knew his whereabouts. Roykirk was now their last hope of retrieving or disposing of the blueprints he had drafted of the pilfered Enterprise devices, so that they would not be "invented" prematurely. Also unknown to them, the Q had removed the actual items from within the silver box and had delivered them back to Christopher.

When Roberta and Riley arrived back at Seven's apartment, Seven assigned the task of retrieving the blueprints Roykirk had made of the stolen items to Roberta.

Miss Lincoln had her eyes closed as she materialized unobserved on the left side of Roykirk's house in the early part of the twenty-first century. Before she left on her new assignment, she decided to pose as an Avon lady, unaware that there was probably no chance she would be believed. Neither Seven or she knew that Avon representatives rarely went door to door anymore. What she did know was that posing as an Avon lady was a bit corny, but she could not think of anything better. Supervisor 194 thought it was a cute idea, and had even supplied her with a nineteen sixties style sample case to make her guise more convincing. Seven had also informed her that Roykirk was not only a brilliant inventor and scientist, he was also a ladies man. Roberta was very attractive and Seven was fairly confident that she would be able to pull off her disguise.

When she gathered up enough courage to open her eyes, she patted herself to make sure she was all there, still not used to Seven's molecular transporter. She was excited and even a little scared to be on her first solo assignment, but Seven assured her that she would do fine and that no one would harm her. Cautiously, she stepped to the front of the house, and, smiling, pressed the door bell.

Unknown to her or anyone else, the Q had been following her every move and now knew what she was up to. He also knew that Roykirk was not home, so he decided to pose as him, transporting himself inside the house and unlocking Roykirk's front door. He feigned interest in her wares and when she wasn't looking, transported her to where no one would ever find her: three hundred years into the future and onto a living spaceship, manned by a Betazoid who was now getting very weary of not being able to talk to another humanoid. His name was Tam Elbron.** Needless to say, when Roberta looked up from the sample case, she was terrified.

* "Balance of Terror"

** "Tin Man"


	18. Chapter 18

Unscrupulous

Chapter 18

Riley and Seven were both very concerned that they had not only lost contact with Pavel Chekov in the twenty-third century, who was, unbeknownst to them, beginning to forget that he worked for Seven, thanks to the time line changes caused by the time rift on top of Saturn and the stolen items from Kirk's ship, but now also with Roberta. Soon, Seven and Riley knew why Roberta had disappeared, for Riley had told him that the Q was trying his best to hamper their efforts at retrieving the blueprints for the stolen articles. As Seven ordered Riley to return to Roykirk's house to see if he could find out just what became of his newest agent, the Q appeared in his customary flash of light just as Riley stepped into the safe-like transporter and disappeared in a blue mist. Seven also had a hunch that Roberta, who was still very new at this, had probably forgotten to take her servo with her. He soon found out from the Q that she had been transported three hundred years into the future from her most recent assignment, well out of range of the device.

Isis the shape shifter, whose favorite guise was that of a beautiful black cat, had offered to accompany Riley in human form. She knew that she had to stay that way while out in public, for people in the twenty-first century were still primitive and paranoid and had made no actual contact with extraterrestrials. Isis had a special ability as well. She was able to block Riley's and Seven's thoughts from the Q, so he did not know where Riley went. Seven agreed to let Isis go to Riley for another reason: he knew that they had become very good friends. Isis then took an extra servo before departing, just in case Seven's hunch was correct.

"Q, you Cardassian vole!" Seven shouted at the alien. "Where is Roberta?"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, Seven. She's perfectly safe."

"That's not what I asked you! Where is she?!"

"I don't want to tell you just yet. You might try to find her with your transporter."

"Q, she's not used to little excursions like this yet."

"It's a good time to get her used to them. Don't worry about her. I will return her when she gets the foolish notion out of her head that she can retrieve the blueprints from the pilfered articles from Roykirk."

"She was only doing her job! That was her assignment! Now where is she?!"

"All right. If you must know, I transported her unto Tam Elbrin's living ship. However, if you make any attempt to retrieve her, I will send Riley there as well and you will never hear from either of them again."

"Q, if any harm comes to her, I swear I will have the Continuum turn you into a Denebian slime devil!"

The Q grinned and chuckled, knowing full well that it was an empty threat.

"Yes, I believe you would, Seven. Now I know that Elbrin is not the nicest man in the galaxy, but Roberta is perfectly safe with him."

"She belongs here on twentieth century Earth, Q! The poor little thing is probably scared out of her wits!"

"She'll get used to being there. She also needs a better boyfriend than that hippie she's been hanging around. I also know that Tam is hungry for humanoid companionship."

The two were interrupted by a message signal from the interactive computer, that was visible right behind Seven. It was from Starfleet Temporal medical. They had been in constant contact with Mr. Seven and knew of Roberta's disappearance. They had dispatched a recently divorced nurse Chapel, just in case Roberta was injured and unable to respond. It was an amicable divorce and Christine and Roger Corby still remained friends. They both finally realized that marrying each other was a mistake and that they were both too involved with their work, and, as a result, had spent little time with each other. Roger knew that Christine felt neglected and unloved and had agreed that divorce had been inevitable. He still loved her so he let her go. They parted company with no ill feelings and Christine had joined Starfleet Temporal soon after the divorce was final. She had, of course, heard of Gary Seven, for the Enterprise accidental encounter with him in the twentieth century was required reading when she joined the covert group of MIB agents. As she materialized inside Seven's transporter, dressed in a very becoming twenty-first century pant suit with her medikit draped over her left shoulder, the Q vanished in his customary way.

Mystified and frightened, Roberta let go of the handle of the sample case she had been holding. It dropped to the wet floor with a splat, some of it's contents spilling out onto whatever it was she was standing on. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing here.

"Oh, Roberta, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" She asked herself quietly. As her eyes became adjusted to the decreased light of her new surroundings, she soon came to the conclusion that she was in the belly of some enormous beast. Her first thought was that she was in the belly of a whale, but soon ruled that out when she couldn't see any other sea creatures nearby. Where was she? It soon became obvious to her that this beast was not a sea creature, for it said hello to her in a human voice. However, she did not feel very comfortable responding to it. She felt a chill go through her as she felt something moist and slimy move behind her and touch her left shoulder. She slowly turned and then screamed in horror as she saw the head of Pavel Chekov pull itself out of the wall and smile at her. Thinking that the creature had killed and eaten him, she fell in a dead faint.

Tam Elbrin was at the front of the living ship, looking with curiosity at the dead conical hunk of neutronium out the main "bridge" window. He had seen pictures of the Doomsday machine planet killer before, so he recognized it immediately.

"_Tam..." _Gumtu spoke in his mind. _"We have a very frightened young visitor in my nasal cavity who might need your help."_

"Who is it, Gumtu?"

"_She called herself Roberta. I believe she is from Earth."_

"Earth?" Tam responded in puzzlement. He then began to pick up her thoughts as well. "Oh, the four Deities! She is from the past!" Gumtu quickly opened up a passageway, leading his Betazoid companion to the girl. Tam knelt and checked for a pulse. "How did she get here?"

"_She suddenly appeared in a flash of light."_

Tam then got a better look at her as Gumtu increased the illumination. His eyes widened as he recognized her from pictures he had seen at the academy. He quickly dragged her out of Gumtu's nose.


	19. Chapter 19

Unscrupulous

Chapter 19

Tam Elbrin waited patiently and with some concern as the pretty new arrival named Roberta regained consciousness. He scolded Gumtu for frightening her by appearing as her friend, and knew she had the mistaken idea that the creature had swallowed her as well. The creature agreed to apologize to her as soon as she recovered enough to not be scared of him. They both sensed her fear more intensely as she came to. She was lucky to be alive. If she had remained in Gumtu's nasal cavity, she would have suffocated.

"Young lady, please don't be afraid. We won't hurt you." Elbrin implored as gently as he could. He soon grew aware of why she was so frightened and sympathized with her. He began to hear her thoughts and learned that she thought that Gumtu had eaten her friend Pavel and had taken his essence from him. "Gumtu did not eat your friend, Roberta. What you think he did is impossible in real life. It was achieved only in that silly movie you're thinking of."*

As Roberta became more aware of her surroundings, she saw that the stranger who had spoken had incredibly dark eyes. Obviously, he wasn't human, but probably a Betazoid. She had only met one other Betazoid before, but she reasoned that this alien might be as nice as the previous one she had met. However, she was still very uneasy.

"Who are you? How do you know my name? We have never met before. Where am I? How did I get here?"

Elbrin smiled gently and smoothed her bangs.

"I know...I know. Your mind is filled with questions. Please relax, Miss Lincoln. You're among friends. I won't hurt you."

Roberta, still bewildered and baffled by her surroundings, looked back up into his deep dark eyes as he helped her sit up.

"If...if you won't hurt me, then what have you done to Pavel? What is this place? How did I get here?"

"I will answer your questions one at a time, dear girl. I have done nothing to your friend. He was never here. As far as I know, he's safe and sound in the previous century. By the way, Miss Lincoln...how could you possibly know someone from the twenty-third century? You are obviously not from around here."

"I work for the so-called men in black in the latter part of the twentieth century. Pavel has been helping with my training as a new agent. How do you know my name? I've never seen you before."  
"I'm a telepath." He watched as she grimaced, closed her eyes and laid back down on the bed that Gumtu had made for her.

"Oh, that's just great! Not again."

Elbrin was confused for a moment, seeing an image form in her mind of someone who resembled her friend Pavel. "Please don't hurt me."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Roberta, not all telepaths are evil. I have been called a jerk sometimes, but I am not a killer like that creep Bester you are thinking of. Who is he?"

"He's a slime ball from another dimension who almost killed Mr. Chekov. Who are you? What am I doing here? Did this creature eat me?"

"My name is Tam Elbrin. As you have figured out in your mind, I am a Betazoid." He paused for a moment and smiled. "You have met Deanna's mother. She is eccentric but very sweet. Deanna and I are good friends. By the way, this creature is also a friend of mine. He is sentient and friendly. His name is Gumtu." Elbrin looked up at the ceiling. "Gumtu, she is calmer now. Please speak to her."

"_I am very sorry for frightening you, Roberta. I thought that seeing your friend's face would make you feel more at home."_

Roberta scowled at the ceiling.

"The only way I am going to feel at home, Gum...Gumtu, is when I'm actually there. That appearance of Pavel's face had the opposite effect. It scared the living crap out of me!" She paused for a moment and then sat back up. "However...I guess I can forgive you. Why was I brought here? Where and what is this place?"

"I see that you have a history of jumping to erroneous conclusions, Miss Lincoln. We are as much in the dark as to why you suddenly appeared here as you are. You are aboard a living spaceship near the galactic barrier, now known as the Bad Lands."

For the first time since her arrival, the girl from the twentieth century looked down at herself and began to realize that she was covered with a thin layer of slime.

"What is this stuff?"

"It's snot, Roberta. You materialized inside Gumtu's nose."

"Ew...gross! This is disgusting!" She made a face.

"It could have been worse, dear girl."

"How could it have possibly been worse?!"

"You could have appeared in his ass and he could have farted you out into space."

Roberta couldn't help but smile and realized that he was trying to make her feel more at ease. It was working, and she was now beginning to think that the Q, who had been hampering their efforts at retrieving the stolen articles and blueprints at every turn, had probably disguised himself as Jackson Roykirk and somehow transported her here so she would not be able to do her job...wherever here was.

"Now that is entirely possible, Miss Lincoln." Elbrin said gently, obviously picking up on her thoughts. "Welcome to the twenty-fourth century."

"Thanks."

Roberta then remembered that she had placed her servo inside her Avon sample case. She now had hope that she would be able to contact Mr. Seven if she knew where it was. Elbrin smiled, reading her thoughts about posing as a seller of cosmetics and toiletries. He now knew why she was dressed like someone from the late nineteen sixties. That was, in fact, where she was from.

"Gumtu, please find and retrieve Miss Lincoln's sample case."

"Mr. Elbrin?"

"Yes?"

"How could a creature like Gumtu possibly exist in outer space? It's a vacuum." She watched in amazement as her sample case rolled into her view and stopped at her feet. She picked it up and began to search for her servo as Elbrin answered.

"Good question, Roberta. We have learned in our time that space isn't a total vacuum. There are creatures, although rare like Gumtu, that can survive out here."

"How is it keeping you alive? Also, what does it eat? Is there a way I can freshen up and get this snot off of me?"

"It's complicated, but Gumtu and I have a sort of symbiotic relationship. We are near a Federation star base named Deep Space Nine. You can freshen up there. As for bathroom facilities, Gumtu supplies that need for me by adding my waste to his. I am not sure what he eats, but he is pretty self-sustaining."

As they conversed, Roberta had found her servo and set it for communication mode. However, she was soon disappointed to find that she was out of range. Then, she recalled that she had been able to contact Mr. Seven during a previous assignment on Deep Space Nine. She suddenly remembered her necklace of Spican flame gems that the Q named Quinn had given to her and wished she had taken it with her. It somehow magically protected her from harm. However, she had had no idea that the Q was going to pull this stunt on her while she was on Earth and whisk her away to God knows where. As she thought of the necklace, it appeared around her neck in a tiny flash of light.

"You've been on Deep Space Nine before?"

"Yes, sir, I was. When I was here last, I ended up being transported into a makeshift shooting gallery. The folks on DS9 were preparing for a possible invasion by creatures from the Dominion."

Elbrin smiled.

"You do get around, don't you? I see. Gumtu, show Miss Lincoln where we are in relation to Deep Space Nine."

Gumtu complied quickly and Roberta noticed something appear that looked very familiar.

"Is that the infamous Doomsday Machine? If so, it really does look like a giant Bugle snack."

Elbrin grinned and chuckled.

"If you tried to chew on that, you would not have any teeth left. It's made of solid neutronium. Yes, that's the Doomsday Machine all right. It is completely inert and no longer a threat. I find it strange that it appeared here in this century. History records that Captain Kirk had repaired it with the help of the Klingons and used it on the Romulans in retaliation for destroying Federation outposts along the neutral zone. Now, however, the damage done to it by the galactic barrier is irreparable."

"Thank God for that." She continued to stare at it out the window and then saw a large structure nearby that looked like a giant alien arachnid on a mirror. "Is that Deep Space Nine? I never saw it from the outside before."  
"Yes, it is. So...you are the famous Roberta Lincoln who works for the mysterious Gary Seven."

"You know about me?"

"Yes, believe it or not, you and your boss are famous and required reading at Starfleet academy. However, until today, I did not know his name. Because of security concerns, your boss's name wasn't mentioned. You are part of the Enterprise's Five Year Mission in the last century."

"I doubt I'm that famous, Mr. Elbrin. In fact, I get the distinct impression that you never heard of me either until I was whisked aboard your living ship. By the way, why are you with him?"

"He is a respite for me, Roberta. My telepathic abilities are quite powerful and are uncontrollable. When I'm around a lot of people, I get all their thoughts and emotions all at once, whether I want them or not. It's a bit much for me. It is only on special or rare occasions that I leave him and go onto Federation star bases or when it is absolutely necessary. Gumtu supplies most of what I need, but it is nice to meet a pretty young lady like you."

Roberta smiled gratefully. She was still a little mystified as to why the Q chose to bring her here.

"You are welcome. I will let you transport onto the space station."

"Thank you, sir."

"I hope you are successful at contacting your supervisor. Good bye and it was a pleasure meeting you."

With that, Gumtu teleported her right into the OPS section of Deep Space Nine, as much to the crew's surprise as it was to hers.

* "The Little Shop of Horrors"


	20. Chapter 20

Unscrupulous

Chapter 20

The Deep Space Nine crew all had puzzled and startled looks on their faces, certainly not expecting a mysterious and strangely dressed young blonde girl to suddenly appear before them in a flash of light, and to have her immediately stunned by their newly arrived Klingon security officer. The crew had been on edge about the Dominion invasion threat, even though this was a relatively peaceful time on the station. The OPS crew had been issued number two phasers and ordered to shoot first and ask questions later if someone suddenly appeared, unaware that Sisko was in communication with the girl's supervisor. It was soon after the time traveling incident with the tribbles and Starfleet Temporal had taken it upon themselves to install a two-way communications link with all the MIB supervisors in the Milky Way galaxy. On this particular day, Captain Sisko wasn't expecting to hear from one of them, certainly not one from the twentieth century, so he was astonished when the face of Supervisor 194, better known as Gary Seven appeared on his computer terminal hookup and announced that soon his newly fledged agent, Miss Roberta Lincoln, would be making an appearance on board the station. Sisko had read about the supervisor at Starfleet Academy when he was a cadet, but never expected to meet him or talk with him. Seven had finally managed to convince the Q to bring Roberta home to the twentieth century where she belonged and that the strange powerful alien had no business playing matchmaker with her. She must make her own decisions. When the Q saw that she had no interest in Tam Elbrin, he agreed. Also, the Q had given up on any notions of wooing Nurse Christine Chapel. It was also true that Roberta's boyfriend Maury* was in love with her. Eventually, he found out what she really did for a living, and was intrigued. However, he was very concerned that some weird alien had whisked her away into the distant future where she did not belong and feared for her safety. Also, Seven needed her back on twentieth century Earth to help two Bajoran refugees, surgically altered to pass as humans, adjust to their new home. The daughter of one of them, a girl named Sito Jaksa**, had escaped the monstrous clutches of the Cardassians after having been nearly killed by them. Sito and her mother, for all intents and purposes, and as far as anyone in the twenty-fourth century knew, had both been classified as deceased. Only the highest ranking officials at Starfleet Command knew otherwise, but they were never going to divulge her true status to anyone. Fortunately, Jaksa had no memory of what she had been through, having been held and tortured in a Cardassian death camp for five years, because of a device of Mr. Seven's that wiped out all of the terrible memories of her ordeal.***

Seven had also given up on the idea of retrieving the blueprints for the stolen devices from Kirk's era, learning from the Q that Jackson Roykirk had placed them on his Nomad probe and launched them into space, never once considering that in doing so, he would have a small part in the development of the Borg, who would find the Nomad probe in later years as it entered a natural wormhole and ended up in the Delta quadrant. Also, the Q knew the whereabouts of the actual stolen items from Kirk's ship, but wasn't going to divulge that information. Colonel Sean Jeffrey Christopher had them, and continued his family legacy of wealth by "inventing" one a year. Nurse Chapel joined her ex-husband on a scientific mission to the planet Exo Three**** and was never heard from again.

"Mr. Seven, why would Miss Lincoln be coming here?" Sisko asked curiously.

"I have been told that you are familiar with the Q being. He brought her to your era to prevent her from changing history back to the way it should be. Once she is there, please see that no harm comes to her."

"Understood, sir."

"I will get my time transporter warmed up and will be there shortly to greet-" He paused, looking startled. "Captain, I just heard-"

"A phaser going off. Excuse me, sir. I will be right back." Sisko quickly stood and strode out of his office, just in time to see a young blonde girl crumple to the deck, uttering the words "Oh, no! Not again!" before losing consciousness. She had been holding some kind of container, and that too dropped to the floor, its contents spilling everywhere. "Worf, hold your fire. Major, get Dr. Bashir now!" He shook his head as he looked at the girl. He was very glad she had only been stunned, but this would not be very pleasing to the supervisor. He knelt and checked for a pulse, realizing also that she was covered in some kind of slime. Sisko wondered where she had been and at her final words as Bashir made his way into OPS. The doctor waved a scanner over the girl's motionless and supine form.

"What happened?"

"I thought she was a Q and stunned her when she suddenly appeared in a flash of light." Worf responded a little regretfully.

"What's that stuff all over the floor?" Major Kira asked with wonder.

"There is only one way to find out." Dax chimed in, picking up a tricorder and starting to scan the case's contents. As she did so, she smiled. "You won't believe this. This stuff is cosmetics. Perfume, eye shadow, lipstick, rouge, mascara and powder." She picked up one of the items to examine it more closely. "What does Avon mean?"

"Never mind that. Doctor, is she human and is she all right? What's that stuff all over her?"

"She's human all right...I think. She's heavily stunned, but will recover in a few hours." The doctor scanned the substance covering the girl's body. "For want of a better term, Captain, it's mucus. Who is she, sir?" Bashir asked, noticing how worried the captain looked.

"That's not important right now. Take her to the infirmary immediately and I will explain later. Have her cleaned up as well." He soon noticed something shiny that resembled a ballpoint pen. Shrugging, he picked it up and put it into his jacket pocket. He could always use a good pen.

"Yes, sir." As the OPS crew watched, Bashir called for an anti-gravity stretcher and two orderlies. They arrived in a minute or so and lifted her up onto the stretcher and took her out of OPS. Sisko excused himself and went back to his office to tell Supervisor 194 of Roberta's status.

*"Death Wish"

** "The First Duty", "Lower Decks"

*** (My story, "Overkill")

**** "What Are Little Girls Made of?"


	21. Chapter 21

Unscrupulous

Chapter 21

Doctor Bashir had informed Captain Sisko that his new patient would be unconscious for at least four hours. This type of stun was more serious than a regular stun. It usually wreaked havoc on the human central nervous system and the medical staff was going to have to monitor her condition carefully to make sure their unfortunate new arrival did not suffer any permanent damage. Mr Seven, via the subspace temporal link, told him that she had been stunned before by his crew, having appeared the first time on the station a year after this current time frame, but at that time, it had been a milder stun. This was actually and technically the first time the Deep Space Nine crew had encountered the young woman. Sisko told Bashir of this, but the doctor didn't think that her first-or rather her second-exposure to a twenty-fourth century phaser stun was going to help her in her recovery.

Sisko had ordered Worf to apologize to her when she came to and he readily agreed. However, he had a reticent look on his face. He let Sisko know that the last woman from the twentieth century he had encountered had reacted rather fearfully towards him.* He was concerned that Miss Lincoln would probably faint as well when she met him. Sisko told him that he should apologize anyway, reminding him that, unlike his first encounter with a human woman from the past, Miss Lincoln was an MIB agent and had probably already met some extraterrestrials. Worf said that he would have apologized anyway, for it was dishonorable to shoot an unarmed and harmless woman, who had proven that she was no threat to the station.

Before closing the link with Mr. Seven, Sisko told him how impressed he was with the sophistication of the writing instrument that had fallen out of the girl's Avon sample case and showed it to him. He asked the supervisor if he could keep it and he reluctantly agreed, asking Sisko to make sure it was a pen before using it. Sisko agreed, puzzled by the man's reluctance to relinquish a simple ball point pen as the link was closed.

Shrugging at Seven's strange attitude, Sisko placed the pen above some paperwork on his desk and pressed what he thought was it's clicker. Instead of bringing the ink part of the pen down, the device chimed. Two antennae raised up to the top and there was a brief spark. Suddenly, a high intensity laser beam pierced his papers and sliced clean through his desk. The desk split in two and everything on it fell to the floor in a smoking heap. Aghast and startled by this new development, he didn't notice that Gary Seven had materialized right behind him. He threw the device into a corner and backed away. As he did, it reverted back to it's original appearance.

"You are fortunate that you weren't killed, Captain Sisko." Seven said softly. Sisko didn't turn at first, still staring at the charred and smoldering edges of his once intact desk. "I'm sorry about your desk, sir. It took me a few minutes to realize that you had Miss Lincoln's servo." Seven smiled a little, bent down and picked the device up from the floor. "Her training is going better than I thought."

Sisko finally looked at him.

"How did you get here?"

"The usual way...via my safe transporter. I didn't mean to startle you. My transporter isn't like the ones you are used to. Mine doesn't make much noise."

"I see. You didn't really startle me as much as that servo thing did." Sisko answered warily, watching as Seven pushed another button on the device.

"Relax, Sisko. I just put the safety back on."

"Uh, thanks."

Sisko watched, still in shock as the supervisor put the device in his jacket pocket. He then looked at him quizzically.

"I came to make sure that no one would be hurt if that was Miss Lincoln's servo. Are you certain that she will be all right?"

"Positive, sir." Sisko responded, now collecting himself. "Bashir is a good doctor and she is being well cared for."

"I hope so. The truth is, I love her like a daughter. If anything bad happens to her, I will hold you personally responsible."

"I can assure you, Mr. Seven, that nothing will. She will be unconscious for quite a while yet. Would you like a tour of the station?"

"That will be acceptable. I also came here for another reason. I want to warn you about Miss Lincoln's next appearance on your station. I gave her a faulty transponder unit that was imbedded into a device that resembled a tape recorder. She will materialize inside a makeshift shooting gallery you will create for target practice against a possible Dominion invasion. It sent an ultrasonic signal which shattered your Ferengi barkeep's eardrums. Miss Lincoln feels very bad about that and thinks it was her fault. When she wakes up, I want to reassure her that it wasn't."**

"Very well. Let's go to Quark's. You can tell him yourself about the transponder."

"Good idea. When Roberta recovers, I will ask her if she would be willing to part with her sample case as a gesture of good will and to better the plight of their females."

Sisko grinned. "You mean you want to make a business proposition to a Ferengi?"

"Yes, just in case you or I forget about the faulty transponder."

"Very well. This way, sir."

The first thing Roberta became aware of a few hours later was the soft hum of diagnostic equipment above her aching head. She felt numb and disoriented at first, then she heard a vaguely familiar male voice announce over the intercom that she was regaining consciousness. Soon, the numbness was replaced with painful tingling in her upper body. She couldn't feel anything below her waist.

"Bashir to Sisko. Our young new arrival is regaining consciousness."

"Very good, Doctor. We will be there in a few minutes." The captain glanced at Dax, who had dropped by Quark's for a quick Tranya before going on duty. Like Quark, she was fascinated with the idea of meeting someone from the distant past. Worf, of course, accompanied them, hoping that Miss Lincoln would not be afraid of him. Quark was interested in only one thing: her Avon sample case. He wanted to try and obtain the items within and make a profit with them by selling them to the females on his world. All were fascinated with meeting both visitors from the past. It was not every day that someone from the nineteen sixties visited the station.

Bashir heard a soft painful groan from his new patient. Being a doctor, he knew that the effects of a Number Two phaser stun were not pleasant.

"Welcome back, Miss Lincoln." He greeted warmly and compassionately. "How are you feeling?"

Roberta was a bit peeved. Her eyes focused on the doctor, remembering him from her last visit.

"How do you think I feel, Doctor? I...ohhh...feel like a big foot that fell asleep." She tried to sit up but found that her body would not cooperate. "Speaking of Big Foot, why did you clowns let that Sasquatch shoot me?"

"We weren't expecting you." Worf said, walking into the infirmary recovery room, followed by Dax, Quark and Mr. Seven. "I am not a Sasquatch. I am a Klingon. I have come to apologize to you. I thought you were a Q and I hate Q's."

"I am not overly fond of them myself anymore, Mr. Klingon. One of them transported me here. Is this Sock It To Roberta Day?"

Dax smiled.

"Not unless that's a holiday where you come from."

"It's not." Roberta tried to smile back, but they all could tell that she wasn't feeling very well. She was now able to have a good look at her visitors, who were gathered around her bed. The tingling was beginning to subside and she noticed Dax's distinctive markings and Worf's Klingon features. She stared at him for a moment, startled by his appearance.

"Please do not faint. I apologize for stunning you and I won't hurt you."

"I won't. I have met a representative of your race, sir. What happened to your forehead? Did you fall asleep with your head on a wash board?"

Dax started to laugh, being the only one besides those who were from the past who knew what a wash board was. Roberta then looked at her a bit more closely.

"You aren't human, either...are you?"

"No. I'm a Trill."

"That's a joined species, Miss Lincoln, consisting of hosts and symbionts." Seven informed her softly, knowing that she hadn't noticed him yet.

"That's a brand of bird seed, not a race." Roberta said with another groan, still feeling the effects of the phaser stun. She then was able to sit up with a little assistance from Bashir. She then noticed Quark and decided to let him have it too. "So which one of the seven dwarfs are you?"

Dax understood that Roberta wasn't feeling well, so decided not to take her remarks personally.

"He's probably their cousin Sleazy."

"I don't get it." Quark said, looking a little crestfallen. "Who were the seven dwarfs?"

Roberta giggled, beginning to feel more at ease now.

"Let's see if I can name them. There was Sleepy, Bashful, Grumpy, Doc, Dopey, Happy and...uh...Sneezy."

"It's an old Earth fairy tale, Quark." Seven informed him with a smile.

" Mr. Seven, boy am I glad to see you!" Roberta said, finally noticing him standing there. "How did you know I was here?"

"I'm glad to see you too, Miss Lincoln. The Q finally told me. As soon as you recover, we are going home. I have a job for you when you return. You're getting a new room mate." Seven responded with a gentle smile.

* "The Neutral Zone"

** (My story) "For Piotr's Sake"


	22. Chapter 22

Unscrupulous

Chapter 22

Roberta Lincoln was standing next to her bed in the station's infirmary with assistance from Dr. Bashir and Mr. Seven. Quark still lingered and Roberta, not being accustomed to this much attention and thinking that the Ferengi was eyeing her like a piece of meat, felt a bit nervous. Dax and Worf had gone back to OPS together, holding hands. Bashir explained to Roberta that they were newlyweds. Seven was eager to get his least experienced MIB agent home to twentieth century Earth so she could begin her next assignment of helping two Bajoran refugees get accustomed to life in her era. Captain Sisko knew who they were, and knew they had been classified as deceased. Because the young woman named Sito Jaksa had been a Starfleet officer, it was imperative that their current real status as refugees be kept top secret, so the Cardassians did not find out and attempt to go back in time and kill them.* Seven was also aware of the need for top security in this matter and did not divulge information to Roberta about her next assignment. Captain Sisko made an appearance as Miss Lincoln was getting to her feet. He had been given a new desk by a Bajoran vedek who had been in the same monastery as the late vedek Bariel. Sisko knew that winter was approaching on Bajor, so offered his servo damaged desk to the clerics as firewood. They gratefully accepted. As Roberta was regaining her strength in her legs and began to stand on her own, Constable Odo the shape shifter entered the room. He scowled at Quark.

"Quark, why are you still hanging around?"

"It's all right, Mr. Odo." Seven answered instead, having been introduced to the constable during his tour of the station. "He's here because he and I have business to discuss. I am going to sell him Roberta's Avon sample case."

"I see. Why would Quark want this stuff? It's mostly women's cosmetics and toiletries."

"I could make a tidy profit selling these things to our females." Quark answered with a toothy grin.

"Mr….uh...Quark, these products are for ladies and there isn't enough here for an entire planet." Roberta added thoughtfully.

"They can easily be replicated. I am sure the females on my planet would enjoy a taste of the twentieth century."

"No offense, sir, but I don't think you would be able to get much money from these things."

"Roberta, the Ferengi could sell ice to Eskimos." Seven said with a smile. Roberta returned the smile and felt her legs return to normal. The numbness and tingling had finally subsided. She considered their words carefully.

"I have a better idea. Why not let your women sell these products to each other? They would probably welcome a chance to contribute to the Ferengi economy."

Quark snorted with derision.

"Our females do not have the lobes for business. They wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Are you saying that the girls on your planet are less intelligent than human girls? In my century, it is mostly women who sell these things. Besides, what do earlobes have to do with anything? I don't think they would have much of a problem selling Avon. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can."

"Well, I don't know…."

"We human females are fairly intelligent. From what I have learned of your people, your society is not that much different from twentieth century Earth, where men rule the roost. I am sure that at least some of your women would be grateful to be given the opportunity to establish a fairly lucrative business for themselves. Isn't that what Ferengi culture is all about?"

"Yes, but these are females…."

"So what? Big deal. So they aren't men. Is that a crime?"

"No..." Quark paused in thought as Seven smiled proudly at his protegee. "All right. You make a good argument. I can think of one female who might be able to handle it. My mother could do it. I could put her in charge of sales. She's the most intelligent female I know. I find that I have no real objection to this, but I would have to get approval from the Grand Nagus."

"What's a grand Nagus?"

"He's like a king, Roberta." Seven answered with a smile.

"Okay. Mr. Quark, let this be strictly a girl thing. That way, your females will stay out of your hair...oops. Sorry." She smiled as the men chuckled with amusement. After a few moments, Roberta's expression turned serious. "On another subject, Mr. Seven, will we ever be able to retrieve the stolen items or the blueprints from Kirk's ship?"

"I doubt it, Miss Lincoln. I think they are lost forever. The Q will not tell me where the items ended up and I have learned that Mr. Roykirk launched the blueprints into space inside his famous Nomad probe.** In doing so, the human race might have indirectly been responsible for the creation of the Borg."

"How is that possible, sir? You told me that the NASA probe launched in the nineteen seventies took forty years just to leave our solar system."

"I believe the Nomad probe was accidentally drawn into a wormhole and ended up in the Delta quadrant. Historical data reveals that Nomad's programs had been altered to search for perfect life forms. I am sure that you recall that the Borg are very interested in obtaining mechanical perfection."

"Yes, and they give me the creeps. I think the Q was very unscrupulous when he allowed Roykirk to put those blueprints inside his probe."

"I agree. He was. I wouldn't worry about the items. Despite certain alterations in the time line, I can see that things worked themselves out in time."

When Miss Lincoln and Mr. Seven were ready to return home, they thanked the Deep Space Nine crew for their hospitality and with Roberta's servo, they stepped onto the OPS transporter pad and bid them all adieu as they dematerialized.

The End

*"Overkill"

** "The Changeling"


End file.
